Naruto: Twin Fates
by Nitramy
Summary: The wheels are in motion. Worlds will collide. Lives will be changed. And through the midst of it all, the Blue Flash shall remain the symbol of hope - the Will of Fire - through these chaotic events.
1. An All Too Sudden Beginning

_disclaimer:_ None of this is mine.

Hi. So here I am again, so soon after completing the first part of this series. This is where the two universes start to actively interact with each other, with explosions, befriending, misconceptions, danger, bodily harm, death, and lime all come together.

As I'm sure you know, this is the second part of the Naruto / Nanoha crossover series I've thought up.

And just like before, this will feature stronger enemies, deeper conspiracies, flashier battles, and our heroes will confront situations that will test their resolve to keep the Will of Fire burning...

I'm planning to do two gaiden series featuring the exploits of Team 7 (starring Sasuke) and Team Guy (starring Lee), but that will have to wait for the moment - Twin Fates and my other crossover works are my current priorities.

If you want to know how we got here, please do check out "Naruto: Arcane Heart", the story preceding this.

So anyhow, without further ado, here's Naruto: Twin Fates.

Note:

_Italics _are thought.

**Boldface** are exclamations and/or exaggerated speech.

_**Bold/italics**_ are Device techniques and/or speech.

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_Resonating in the far skies..._  
_Are your prayers turning into miracles..._

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_**Naruto: Twin Fates**_

**Chapter 1: An All-Too Sudden Beginning**

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**The two silhouettes were going at a decent enough clip as they traveled through the foliage, taking to the branches to avoid the bogs that were the source of the name of their land: the Land of Swamps.

If you assumed they were ninjas by their chakra-enhanced leaps through the trees, well, you would be right.

But ever since the advent of the Elemental Countries, ninjas had become the antithesis of stealth and shadow combat they originally were - you could even blame the Sage of Six Paths for that, and for many other things.

Still, there were those who, despite their massive power, devoted themselves to mastering the art of killing in the shadows that ninja were most known for, even now.

The larger one of them wore a dark-red outfit, carrying a large scroll behind him as he took the lead. His silver hair whipped back as he ran, revealing the custom-made forehead protector marked with "Oil" in the middle.

Not only was he one of these old-school adherents that some of the younger generation looked up to, he was also known as a Sage - the Toad Sage, to be precise.

More people than this knew him to be a bestselling author, responsible for works of "art" such as "Icha Icha Paradise", "Icha Icha Violence", and his latest unreleased work, "Icha Icha Tactics".

Thus was Jiraiya of the Legendary Sannin running through the Land of Swamps along with his apprentice.

The apprentice likewise kept up with his master's speed, not minding the wind blowing in his face as he ran.

This one wore a black jacket with a tiger-striped pattern of dull orange going towards orange-red on half of the sleeves and the upper part of the jacket, hood included. Black ninja pants, midnight blue ninja sandals, and the forehead protector carved with the symbol of Konohagakure rounded out his ensemble.

What was worth noticing was the weirdly out-of-place dagger tucked in nicely in one hip holster: it looked too ornamental to have a practical use for the boy.

As the apprentice followed his master's lead, he took to thinkin about what had been happening so far.

It was two years, ten months, and fifteen days to the day that Uzumaki Naruto left the Village Hidden in the Leaves with his sensei Jiraiya the Toad Sage on a training trip.

The continent-wide trip wasn't just the Sannin checking up on his information network, the duo had also gone on a few missions: some from home (seek and destroy any ROOT remnants); some freelance.

And in between these jobs, Naruto took his ninja training back to its (pun unintended) roots: a warrior who strikes from the shadows, an assassin who kills quickly, cleanly, and discreetly. Fortunately, Naruto had taken his training seriously enough that he would routinely take on what would be rated as C-Rank missions at Konoha with nothing but a pair of kunai, five shuriken, some wire, and the three Academy jutsu... and produce remarkable results.

As they took the trail towards their latest job (a priestess in Demon Country was kidnapped and her bodyguard had commissioned ninja from several villages to aid in the recovery). Naruto was still thinking about just how far he'd gone, and how far he still needed to go.

In fact, the real reason Naruto returned to the beginning of his ninja training was him finding out that his daring rescue of his sensei in Kirigakure had earned him an A-rank bingo book rating.

His sensei was expecting him to react in the typical (read: "Whoo-hoo, I got an A-rank bingo book rating, fuck yes, I'm the best ninja ever!") manner, but Naruto had been strangely subdued when he found out.

"Guess I have an even bigger target painted on me now, right, sensei?" Naruto had asked when he had done thinking about it, and the Toad Sage nodded his assent.

From that point on, the former Kyuubi container (he did contain something, but it was as close to what the Kyuubi was as to a kunai being the scroll it was sealed in) began focusing even more on his training and putting his talents to good use.

The Toad Sage himself had marveled at how Naruto applied his unpredictability and out-of-the-box thinking to his ninja training - that "#1 in Strategy and Tactics" was beginning to show.

Sure, the boy also took some time to strengthen his Armed Device Reynard, but this was all strictly maintenance and keeping his skill set sharp - because he wanted to try and be both a ninja and a Knight simultaneously. And based on revelations after the Kirigakure incident, he'd finally have a chance to.

_Judging by the results in the last few missions,_ Jiraiya thought, _the boy was set to completely overshadow his more famous father - he had already beaten the Yondaime in several feats, even!_

Speaking of which, during all this time, the Toad Sage never managed to get how the boy found out who his parents were... though he did have a laugh or two at that saying he and his friends coined up at the Academy about him being "a son of a Kage".

Some irony.

And now, here they were, taking to the branches in their hurry to get to the Land of Demons.

What had begun as a quick journey through the gnarled trees was now growing into something more, as Lass, the spirit of the Assassin's Guildmaster sealed within Naruto's Device kept leaking out feelings of nostalgia and deja vu.

Deja vu... it was as if his Device had taken through these very same branches and blazed the same trails before.

Naruto used his mind to keep the voice of his Device's spirit down - it wouldn't do to lose focus at such an important juncture.

_That feeling again, _Naruto thought. Not only was the nostalgic feeling leaking onto him, so was the fact that this mission had some significance to the Device Spirit.

He was thinking about entering the mindscape when two shots rang out over the branches, forcing master and apprentice to take cover.

"That was way too fast to be an enchanted kunai," Jiraiya said as he assessed the situation. "Naruto, you okay?"

"Wasn't hit anywhere, sensei," Naruto answered, "must be some sort of warning shot."

He leveled a gaze at the Toad Sage, who started to do these strange motions with his eyes.

Naruto nodded, he knew what his sensei wanted him to do.

_Kage Bunshin. Two pairs._

_First pair as bait, the second pair as trackers._

Naruto nodded and discreetly executed the technique while under cover of the foliage. The shots rang out again as the two clones dashed forward, but instead of missing, they hit straight and true, tearing through and dispelling the two shadow clones Naruto made as bait.

He heard the click, and the nostalgic feeling came over him once more...

_Not now... _Naruto thought as he felt who or whatever that was move further into the woods. His clones would track that person or thing... and he'd know who or what it was. Jiraiya's little hint about Kage Bunshin had been a little bit too helpful, as this ended up making him use less of the technique than before - it wouldn't do for him to end up with memory overload in the middle of the fight, and he did pick up a few hints on what happened to his "rival" Mr. Uchiha way back during that pursuit.

So currently, there was no point in worrying too much as the two continued taking large chakra-powered leaps towards Demon Country.

"Wonder why Hokage-sama had us take this job on such short notice, sensei?" Naruto asked.

"All Tsunade said was that we were the only Leaf-nin available on such short notice. Still..."

The apprentice left his master to his thoughts as they continued on the trail, and within a few minutes they had arrived at a rather nondescript village - the town center of the Land of Demons.

"Our attacker ended up here," Naruto muttered to his sensei. "My scout clones dispersed close by."

"Then that means the kidnapper's accomplice is somewhere here," the Toad Sage whispered back. "Keep on your toes, Naruto... we're going to the Priestess' bodyguard."

The blonde chunin nodded as they walked through the village. As he did so, though, the voice of the soul sealed within his Armed Device suddenly reverberated within his head - and frankly, it disturbed him. _So that's where the feelings of deja vu are coming from._

**_This is Silver Cross Town._**

**_It can't be._**

**_How can this be Silver Cross Town?_**

_What's the surprise for, Lass? _Naruto thought-asked his Device.

_**I'm positive. This is Silver Cross Town.**_

_**Okay, now I'm officially freaked at this. You end up in the same world as they are? What are the odds? **_a second voice asked in Naruto's mind.

_Hi, Fox. How are the transmission matrices going?_

_**I've finished analyzing your transmission matrices.**_

_Sorry it took you so long because of the purification process._

_**Well, it's a lot easier now. Before, when purification was ongoing, it took a lot out of me to stabilize the flow of what little was purified so far. Now that we can theoretically access all of it, I'm going to start off with a small amount of this energy before subjecting you to larger and larger amounts - so your body can take it.**_

_Thanks, Fox._

_**You're welcome, dear boy. So... Lass... it seems we're finding more and more proof of your little hypothesis about this world.**_

_**I know... but this... it's convincing, but there's a little part of me that's saying there's more to this than it seems.**_

_Let's not focus on that now, guys. Sensei and I still have to talk with the bodyguard about that rescue mission._

_**We'll do our own investigating, then. Drop by again if you discover anything.**_

_Sure thing, guys._

Back outside Naruto's mind, he and his master in the ninja arts had been welcomed into one of the larger sitting rooms available in the town.

They had waited for all of two minutes when the client walked in - she had on a large, hooded cloak that concealed most of her facial features... except her eyes.

That seemed to be the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back, as Naruto could hear Lass' voice in his mind stutter and stammer when the client shook hands with the Toad Sage and then turned to Naruto.

_**It's her. First these coincidences, then Silver Cross... and now her.**_

_**Do you know her? **_the Fox asked.

_**I know only one girl who has a blue right eye and a red left eye.**_

Sure enough, the client removed the hood, revealing that she had, indeed, a blue right eye and a red left eye - the defining feature of a gentle and calm face, long blue hair, and eyeglasses.

"A bloodline limit?" Naruto had blurted out in sheer disbelief.

"Your medic-nin would define it as 'heterochromia'," the girl answered in a quiet and almost blank tone. "My name is Mari - and I have been Priestess Shion's bodyguard for the past several years."

Naruto's eyes narrowed as the memories of his dispelled Kage Bunshin resurfaced. "Were you the one who ambushed Sensei and I back outside town?"

"My apologies," Mari said almost blandly, making Naruto think that the apology wasn't too sincere. "It was only to ascertain the extent of your abilities. You carry a Device with you, why not use it?"

"I have my reasons," Naruto answered, "and I'm not too comfortable disclosing them at this moment."

"Give it a try, kid," a voice echoed somewhere, and with a swirl of leaves, two ninja entered the sitting room.

Naruto's mind boggled as the two stepped towards the client. Not only did they look familiar, they also sported the headbands of Otogakure!

"Don't remember the face of your old pal Sieghart, kid?" the dark-haired man asked, smiling.

The boy quickly reached for the ornate dagger - his Device - while taking a defensive position. "Sieghart," he muttered as he tensed himself up for battle.

"Relax, we're also here on the same job. Mission clauses to each Kage and council were worded that no inter-village spats would happen barring pecuniary penalties, so no, we don't get to continue that little contest we had," Sieghart answered, raising his hands in a placating gesture. "Oh, by the way, I picked up an apprentice on the job: meet Tsuchi Kin. Kin, meet Uzumaki Naruto and Jiraiya the Toad Sage."

"Pleasure to meet you," the dark-haired kunoichi said, bowing as the tradition went.

"Uh, well, nice to meet you too, I suppose," both Leaf-nin managed to sputter out before bowing as well.

Several minutes of the requisite small talk went by before a ninja wearing the forehead protector of the Village Hidden in the Grass walked into the sitting room. Naruto's eyes bugged: _what in the world?_

He originally thought it was an extremely buff Grass-nin, but as the person went closer, he could see mesh armor and bandages around the chest and abdomen.

Naruto saw... _wait, were those breasts being constrained by the bandages? _He was momentarily discombobulated at the dissonant mix: a gigantic kunoichi who seemed to carry that massive axe like it was a child's squeak toy. The rest of her look: hakama pants, ninja sandals, goggles, ash-blond hair and pointy ears poking out from under her boyish cut seemed to be just an afterthought.

"Otsuka reporting for duty," she said blandly at the client.

"Otsuka-san, you seem to be even more withdrawn than before..." Mari mused. "Anyway, do introduce yourselves to one another. As I am the client in this joint-village operation, I shall begin. My name is Mari... and up until 12 hours ago, I was the bodyguard of the current priestess of Demon Country, Shion. It is my assumption that she was taken in order to resurrect some sort of demonic influence; thus, I hired ninja from several villages to help with the retrieval effort, and here we are. Leaf-nin-san?"

"Um, yeah," Jiraiya said, feeling just a bit out of place among all the younger nin. "Name's Jiraiya, I'm a ninja of the Leaf, and a writer and researcher. You might know me as the author of books such as 'Icha Icha Paradise' and its sequels."

"Can I have an autograph?" Kin asked as her master palmed his face. The Kusa-nin named Otsuka seemed to have a slight glint in her eye when Jiraiya mentioned the famous book he penned, but it passed by quickly.

"Maybe after this mission. Oi, kid. You're up."

"Uzumaki Naruto, Chunin of the Leaf," Naruto said, scratching his head sheepishly. "I got railroaded into taking a training trip because I was an idiot and didn't even bother to see who I fought until after I took him down."

That brought out a lot of chuckles from the assembled ninja for a while, until Mari coughed before looking at Sieghart.

"All right, then..." Sieghart said. "The name's Sieghart, of Sound... I want to get to a nice, steaming onsen right after this mission... because training my apprentice turned out to be a dumb, tedious, tiresome, but ultimately fulfilling, move on my part," the dark-haired nin sighed. "Your turn, my darling apprentice."

"Pervert," Kin shot back. "I'm Tsuchi Kin, Special Jonin of Sound. Used to be a genjutsu specialist, now I'm more of a combat supporter. It's a long story, involving earrings, genjutsu, the Sound Five, and several jibes about the Otokage's tongue, but that's how I ended up with this lazy bum for my master."

"I am not a bum!" Sieghart bristled at the insult.

"Point made," Kin answered, giggling.

The girl with the pointy ears politely stretched out her lips in what passed off as a smile. "Otsuka Hikaru, Grass. Forest Patrol. These ears are a bloodline limit."

"Aren't they all?" Sieghart asked, grinning. "So, we're an inter-village wrecking crew you ended up hiring. Wonder why?"

"What about showing the secondary proof of your power?" Mari asked, rummaging in her cloak a bit before withdrawing a very strange thing - something that looked like one of the firearms the Fire Daimyo's militia had recently researched, but this one had a more streamlined and powerful look to it - and it had a large cylindrical part that Naruto guessed could spin around.

"Fafnir?" Hikaru asked, and an orange orb embedded in the axe she carried began to blink as it spoke. _**"Yes, my lord?"**_

"Meeting new friends... everyone, my partner Fafnir," the pointy-eared Grass-nin said, pointing to her axe.

_**"New friends?" **_Fafnir asked in an electronic voice. _**"This isn't a meeting of new friends, it's a reunion. Lass... Amy... Sieghart... and Mari. Long time no see. Ryan here."**_

Everyone nearly bugged out at Fafnir's revelation. No way this was a coincidence.

Deep inside, Naruto knew that while the hand of destiny might have taken him in this direction, everything else pointed towards the intervention of someone - or something.

The question now was, why?

"As we'd like to stay, chat, and reminisce about times long past, we all need to hurry... Priestess Shion will most likely be used to revive a sealed demonic entity," Mari said, shifting her gaze at Naruto when she saw his eyes go blank for a moment, as if thinking about how this seemed to be fitting too well.

Hikaru's eyes instantly grew hard. "How long do we have left?"

"The target area is around 20 kilometers to the north-northwest of here - a mountain temple at the southern edge of the Land of Swamps. Beware, I heard that Yomi had assembled an array of monsters to hinder any attempts at rescue - and that the ritual will begin the night after tomorrow."

"We'll take care of it, right, Scheherazade?" Kin asked.

_**"Right you are, my lady." **_a voice echoed as the hoop earrings Kin wore lit up.

"That's the spirit, kid," Sieghart said. "Hey, white-haired porn fiend. You don't seem to have a Device. Don't know if you have what it takes to run with someone as awesome as I am."

"Appearances can be deceiving, Sieghart," Mari said. "If you must know, this man is a Sage - a powerful one. He can go toe-to-toe with the best of us, and he's had a lot of experience in many other fields."

"If you say so," Sieghart replied, knowing that part of that was true. After all, he did spend a great majority of his immortal life in battle. "So... the ceremony starts night after tomorrow, huh? Long enough time for us to tear through these things and save the day."

"As I'm sure you will. Now please, I have to finish a few last-minute preparations. Jiraiya-sama, I leave you to lead this team. Please bring Shion-sama back safe and sound."

"We'll do our best," the five ninja said, and the client stood up, bowed a dismissal, and retreated to her office, presumably to begin contingency plans.

"Uzumaki Naruto," Hikaru said, looking at the blonde Konoha chunin after Mari had taken to her office. "Fafnir tells me your Device has Lass... it's a great combination."

"Thank you," Naruto said off-handedly.

"It's hard, isn't it? To manage being both a ninja and a knight?"

Naruto and Kin both coughed. "It's really not that hard."

"True, you get used to it in time," the Oto special jonin added.

"I have a feeling we will get along... famously, so they say," the kunoichi from Grass said.

"She's tall," Kin whispered to Naruto.

"Tell me about it," Naruto whispered back. "She's a full head taller than me, and I'm well into my spurt."

The Grass kunoichi simply sighed. _When will people stop using my height to pick me out of a crowd?_

* * *

Elsewhere, crickets chirped in the night air as a black-clad couple somberly walked through the front door of their rather modest home.

"Welcome home," a rather cute brunette said, getting off the couch and turning off the TV as soon as she heard the door open.

"Thanks for taking care of the twins, Sera," the husband said. "So, are they done for the night?"

"Yes, sir," the babysitter replied. "They're already sleeping soundly."

The couple nodded appreciatively before the husband went to reach for his wallet.

"Sir, it's late... and I have to get home as soon as I can. If it isn't any trouble, can I just come by tomorrow?"

"That's no problem, Miss Sera..." the man said, smiling sadly. "I'll drop it off with Amy here, and you can come by before going to school."

"Thanks, sir!" the babysitter said, her expression brightening before she took her leave of the couple.

The couple spent a few minutes viewing the doorway of their home silently before the brown-haired woman finally closed the door and breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, at least we know she's a great babysitter..."

She turned to her husband, and gasped as she saw him with an ineffably sad expression on his face... so she wasted no time in going around him and engulfing him with her arms with an embrace from behind.

"Oh, Chrono... I'm sorry..."

"He taught me everything I know... I would have been less than half as good if it wasn't for him..."

"...you want to talk more about it?" Amy asked her husband.

He nodded at his darling wife wistfully. "Yeah..."

"Let's get out of these stuffy clothes, first," she said, winking.

Admiral Chrono Harlaown cracked his first smile of the day then before leading his wife Amy Limietta-Harlaown to their bedroom.

"You know, I never thought of Hayate-chan being vindictive," Amy began as she wiggled around, trying to get to the zipper of her black dress. "But after what we saw when the contracts were summoned, I wonder. Is she, really?"

"A gentle soul like Hayate-chan? It's unlikely. You should have seen the faces on those two, though... Aria and Lotte looked like their lives flashed before their eyes when they found out their contracts were passed on to Hayate from the old Admiral," Chrono replied, assisting his wife in finding and pulling down the annoying zipper.

"Do you think Hayate-chan would do anything... to hurt them?" Amy asked, gasping as her husband got a little bit frisky before unsnapping her brassiere.

"Knowing her? She's not going to do anything to them. Every time she looks at them, they're going to be reminded of what they've done, and that, for me, is a million times worse than if she worked them to death, used them for target practice, anything," Chrono answered before tossing aside his pants. "Sometimes I even wonder if Hayate still remembers. Goodness knows Aria and Lotte do."

"Gah! You rascal. You're not going to give me a chance to shower, won't you?" Amy gasped out.

"No. We go together," Chrono answered before gently holding his wife's wrist and easing her towards the bathroom.

Several minutes later, while the couple were rinsing off a rather heated shower that served as the appetizer to the night's main course, Amy went back to what they had been talking about.

"Admiral Graham lived a long and fruitful life, didn't he?"

"Yes, he did. Never mind all the stunts he pulled, all the under-the-table dealing... never mind that the only way he got me to be serious about my magical career was by mentioning my father's memory..."

"...and Hayate-chan."

Chrono grunted. "She's already forgiven those two, but somehow, there's still a part of her that wants to hurt them back..."

"How do you know this?" Amy asked as she dried off her husband.

"Because I feel the same way, too," he answered as he took the other towel and reciprocated his wife's actions. "Maybe I should have a talk with her about this. Get her to admit that she still hates them - even if only a little - for what they did to her those years ago. Hopefully, she's still as wise as before so that she'll realize that getting back at the two girls is never worth it."

"What would be worth it then?" Amy asked, her expression changing.

"You know the saying that hate never beats hate; but love does. How about we try for another?" Chrono asked, raising his eyebrows. "It's been quite some time since the twins, right?"

"It is... and you've got yourself a deal, Admiral," Amy said cheekily as she took her husband by the hand and walked over to their bed.

* * *

There were skeletons among them. Skeletons wielding armor, swords, and bows...

...Dark-robed reanimated humans, wielding dark magics: arcs of black lightning, clouds of noxious fumes...

... and gigantic stone constructs, sending tremors through the ground as their monolithic arms swung.

And there were a lot of them, stretching a line beginning from the outskirts of Demon Country's capital all the way to wherever they came from.

_Okay, the ninja quote for the day seems to be "expect the unexpected". Too bad they didn't specify "how unexpected", _Uzumaki Naruto thought as the rescue team comprising of him and Jiraiya from Konoha, Sieghart and Kin from Oto, and Hikaru from Kusa went face-first into the fray, blazing a trail of destruction from the gates of the frontier town all the way to the Land of Swamps.

"Judging by their number, whoever summoned these creatures was planning for an invasion. A major one," Jiraiya said as he crushed a skeleton swordsman into bone dust with a Rasengan.

"So this was why Mari-san hired us?" Hikaru asked before hefting her axe, winding up, and sending a flurry of arrows sent their way back with a charged swing of the axe. "Because she somehow knew this would happen?"

_I think every Device here knows, too. They're just not made to openly conjecture, though, _Naruto thought. _Still... if Lass has been here, then it stands to reason that Sieghart..._

The aforementioned Oto-nin was further ahead, tearing into a large stone creature that was breathing jets of fire at him. Too bad he had his aura out, and was zipping around these flames, swatting his sword at the stone construct at every possible place - the creature didn't last that long under said onslaught, collapsing into a pile of rocks as Sieghart finished it off with a Grinding Punisher.

"Bloody show-off," Kin muttered as she took out another one of those cloaked monsters with a combination of ninja wire and kunai.

_**It's too early for us to show our dances, my lady, **_a voice in Kin's head echoed.

_All right, we'll stay in a low key. I don't know how long we can keep it that way, though... look out!_

A sickening hue of orange burst from the bogs, and the earth thudded as EVERYONE stopped in their tracks.

Something big was lumbering towards them, and after the crashes of its footfalls finished, the monstrosity came into full view.

It looked human, but instead of two eyes, it hand just one - and its arms looked much larger than normal. The thing let its lone eye in a gaze over the battlefield, registering the five ninja as targets.

And then it brought its arms down.

That was when Uzumaki Naruto realized that this wasn't just any mission, any more... because all of them scattered at the flaming boulders coughed up from the fissures in the ground caused by this monster's massive blow.

* * *

Morning had finally arrived.

After an exhausting night of intimate contact, Admiral Chrono Harlaown of the Time-Space Administration Bureau wearily dragged himself out of bed and went to his portable command console after doing the rituals of day's start.

As soon as he had booted up the laptop that was his direct line to the data banks in his TSAB office, notifications began to spring up - after all, he did take a week off from his work. Someone important to him and the Bureau did, after all, shuffle off his mortal coil.

It took him a hastily-made breakfast and a cup of coffee to get most of the usual business that an Admiral of the TSAB would have to go through done, but by the time the cup of coffee was empty, he was down to one notification.

Intrigued, he clicked on the strange link that came from his office's personal file.

_**"Your personal file has been updated. The time lock on Directive 11-2309A has passed."**_

_That's funny, _Chrono thought. _Directives under those are ranked-SSS, not even for someone of my rank. Why would someone want to give me this file?_

He gasped when he saw the names of the undersigned.

Admiral Lindy Harlaown.

Admiral Gil Graham.

_Gone but not forgotten was a most apt note, _Chrono thought. _But what would have gotten Mother to cooperate with Admiral Graham after the "Tome of the Night Sky" incident?_

He read the abstract.

And then he paled.

He hurriedly went back to his bedroom to get his uniform on. The appropriate personnel would have to be notified. A ship had to be requisitioned, supplied, and manned for an operation of this magnitude.

In the midst of his frenzy of preparing, one thought passed through his mind.

_Mother... Graham... how?_

_Why have you kept this from us for so long?_

He took a second to look at the invitation card for the funeral held yesterday for the man he considered to be his mentor (aside from his mother), but no answers would come.

Admiral Chrono Harlaown thus began his day preparing for an off-the-books TSAB intervention.

* * *

Naruto: Twin Fates

Chapter 1 - **END**

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a/n:** Holy crap Nitramy writes lime. Of course, you dolt. I'm Linux Black Sarena, too. *blasts commenter with High Intensity Laser*

And yes, I'm sorry for shifting the rating to M. I have my reasons why. You've already read one, and several others will be coming soon.

No, we will not have the TSAB actually drop in yet. We still have a few chapters to go (and Naruto still has to go back to Konoha, natch!) that will set everything else in motion.

Hikaru will probably play a supporting role in the story, but that doesn't mean she'll hook up with a Narutoverse or Nanohaverse character. Why she chooses to remain single will be revealed next chapter.

If you want to know what Admiral Chrono Harlaown stumbled upon, go back to my previous story (Naruto: Arcane Heart) and go read Chapter 32.

We're not done with the twists yet, so buckle up, we're only getting started.

Again, reviews and things where you want to see a few scenes and improvements will make me really happy.

There's a link in my profile again, and the poll is still open (I'll keep it open until Mobile Assault Force 6 makes their debut).

_**OC Biography**_

**Name:** Otsuka Hikaru

**Village: **Kusagakure

**Rank: **Special Jonin (Weapons spec)

**Elemental Affinity: **Earth / Water

**Bloodline Limit:** A minor one: her ears are pointed, much like an elf's. It was said to be a recessive Clan trait.

**Biography: **It remains a mystery to this day how Kusagakure managed to hide its own Device user until recent times. Hikaru is the first of Kusagakure's Forest Patrols, a group of ecologically-inclined ninja who are trained to battle within forests, jungles, and bogs. Their range of jutsu is limited to whatever allows them to blend in the forest better, but what little they know allows them to be near invisble in their chosen battleground.

P.S. There are cookies to be given away! A cookie will be given to who gets where I got Hikaru's appearance (and name!) from. First 3 who get it right get named recognition in the next chapter.


	2. The Last Stand

_disclaimer: _once again, with feeling, none of this is mine. :3

Everything really begins now. Weird creatures are being summoned by the deranged priest Yomi, the five-man inter-village team ends up in over their head, Moryo isn't who Yomi thinks he is, Shion will probably make that same proposition again, and Jiraiya have some character development.

(When I mean "character development", I mean that he's gonna be a better writer. More romance. More comedy. Kinkier porn. You know the drill.)

This will be the tail end of the prequel arc before Naruto and his sensei Jiraiya actually return to Konoha.

Here we go, Chapter 2!

_another reminder_: **bold **speech is for emphasis, _italics_ are for thought, and _**bold italics **_are Devices and/or bijuu speaking.

* * *

_The meaning to fighting without hesitation_  
_ Is to face the weakness in my heart_  
_ So I can come into brilliant bloom_...

* * *

_**Naruto: Twin Fates**_

**Chapter 2: The Last Stand**

* * *

It took more effort than Uzumaki Naruto originally thought to put down this one-eyed orange giant who reminded him of Mr. Uchiha's jonin-sensei for some reason or another.

Granted, every Knight except that kunoichi from Sound (Kin something-or-other was her name) had their Devices out, and had contributed to the assault.

Even the Toad Sage showed off a little technique called "Doton: Yomi Numa" to slow the monster Sieghart named the Cyclops down.

During the fight, though, it was rather easy to see who had ninja upbringing, and who didn't.

Everyone but Sieghart fought with a high degree of discretion, taking potshots at the Cyclops with elemental jutsu to divert his attention while Jiraiya bogged down his legs with his Earth jutsu and the Immortal Highlander knocked him around with aura-enhanced swings from wielding those two swords of his.

It had been several minutes worth of conflict, but it had finally ended when Naruto asked Hikaru for a boost to throw him at the Cyclops. After letting him fly, he focused a significant amount of his chakra towards the soles of his feet, planted a dropkick on the Cyclops, and released the stored chakra in a powerful blast.

The orange giant teetered from the impact, waved its arms comically to prevent from falling... and crashed to the ground in a remarkable thud.

Naruto and Sieghart saw something strange in the aftermath, though - the Cyclops' eye was curled in a sort-of smile, and its expression did not hold as much rage as it did anymore.

Then it disappeared in a poof of summoned smoke.

"Too easy," Sieghart said.

"That was just a warm-up," Naruto replied. "We're only a third of the way through to the Land of Swamps."

Hikaru placed a palm to the ground. "Reinforcements are on the way. We'll have to attack preemptively before they establish a more defensive position."

"Kin," Sieghart called. "We're gonna need your power anytime now. Be ready."

"Yes, sensei," the kunoichi from Sound said.

"I have a bad feeling that by this mission's end, we'll have pulled out all our stops," Jiraiya grumbled.

"Relax, sensei. We'll need everything we have for this second wave."

They nodded to each other and took to the next phase of the mission.

* * *

Amy Limietta-Harlaown opened her eyes slowly, as the morning sun was already out and shining brightly.

As she strained to rub her eyes, she was thankful that Carol and Liera weren't morning people - not by a long shot.

It was rather disconcerting to her husband, who was the early-to-bed, early-to-rise sort of person - even if they did take on the exhausting business of making babies the night before.

So it was not strange to Amy to feel that her husband had already awakened before she did.

When she finally got the sleep out of her eyes, she found out a stranger thing.

They weren't supposed to be going back to work until the middle of next week, but here he was, her darling husband Chrono putting on his uniform and polishing off his look for what seemed to be a premature return to the office.

Doing what she did best, Amy just sighed.

"Amy? You awake?" Chrono asked.

"Aren't we on vacation?"

"Yeah... we were," her husband answered. "Something came up."

"What was it?"

"Sorry, really private TSAB business. Cloak-and-dagger. You know the drill."

Amy rolled her eyes. "In case you remember, Admiral Chrono Harlaown, I was entrusted with several A- to S-rank secrets during my tenure in the Bureau. Surely... you realize that even in a domestic capability, I can still hold some of your secrets?"

Chrono smiled. "I am serious. And my name is Chrono, not Shirley."

After his wife picked herself out of bed from that massive facefault, she grunted and went to the bathroom door to pull on a robe. "If you're that serious, fine, I'm not gonna bug you about it."

"If it will remove your worries, I'll be just heading to Uminari City for a bit - got a few things I need to talk with Hayate-chan about - before I go to HQ. Just a few things to plan and a few people to see."

"You're gonna make it home tonight, right?"

Chrono smiled. "It's just a day in the office, nothing more."

"...okay," his wife said before giving him a kiss. "Be sure to give the twins a kiss before you go, all right?"

"That was the plan," the TSAB Admiral answered, "and I'll see you later this evening."

* * *

"What in the name of Hashirama Senju's ghost is that?" Naruto asked as he saw the big octahedral shape flanked by several smaller ones loom over the horizon.

"Bad news," Hikaru answered as the red spheres affixed at each vertex began to glow an ominous red.

And then all five ninja had to scramble as beams of energy scattered in all directions from the flotilla of shapes.

"This weapon won't be of any use against a long-range foe," Naruto muttered to himself. He was loath to using this form of his Device, but the situation called for it.

_**Better to reveal your secrets now than for lives to be lost, **_the Fox gently reminded him.

_**Yes,**_ Lass answered. _**Now is the opportunity.**_

His confidence bolstered, he took a chakra-enhanced leap into the air before activating his Device and Barrier Jacket in one fell swoop.

"Reynard... Cartridge Load... Transcend to Cypher Form!"

_**"Jawohl. Cypherform."**_

When the flash of light that blazed Naruto's ornate dagger began to subside, it revealed another form of the Armed Device. Sieghart took a moment and kicked off one of the smaller octahedrals before sneaking a look at Naruto's Device and grinning evilly at the memory of their fight before continuing on his assault.

Naruto's Device had now become larger, more sleek, and adaptive to the Cartridge System that came with it - whereas before, cartridges were loaded in the hilt, this form now had a small module where the cartridges could actually be manually loaded. The weapon had resembled a single tonfa, but the long end carried an edge crackling with mana, and the short end was hollowed out, almost as if its wielder could fire shots from it...

And fire shots Naruto did, pointing his Device at one of the smaller octahedrals his Device had ID'd as a Paraminimy.

"Spiral Blaster!" Naruto bellowed as four light-blue orbs materialized around the boy. "Go!"

At his order, the orbs of mana went flying towards their targets: two missed, but two found their mark, taking down two of the Paraminimy escort.

"Hostile Mana Reaction Imminent. Evacuation suggested," B4U - Sieghart's Storage Device - echoed, as its Master, not wanting to be one-upped by this boy, took the rest of the Paraminimy out of commission.

"Incoming!" he yelled before jumping out of the way of a large pink beam fired from the largest of the octahedral shapes.

After all five of them successfully evaded the blast, Sieghart and Naruto gave each other a look that said, "let's take this piece of scrap down, and quickly"... and then Naruto readied his Device for a stronger blast, while Sieghart dashed in once more, twin ninja edges in hand.

The thing Hikaru's Device ID'd as a Paradom fired beams in all directions to try and defend itself from the Highlander's attack, but as it did, it seemed to forget about the blonde boy who was hovering a good distance away, and pointing the short end of the Cypher towards the large octahedral contraption.

Sieghart's weapons clashed against the shield of the Paradom as he continued to attack it. He was just about to flare his aura and cut it in pieces when he heard Reynard announce the incoming attack.

_**"Spiral Cannon."**_

A beam of light-blue energy comparable to what the Paradom fired awhile back ripped across the ruined landscape, causing the three other ninja to stop and gawk at the power of the technique.

Power, indeed, thought the Toad Sage as he saw the large triangular machine cough up smoke before slowly dropping to the ground, its red orbs losing their light as it went offline.

"That's just about it, isn't it?" Naruto asked, panting after he had fired one of the strongest techniques in his arsenal. He still had a trick up his sleeve, but he wasn't about to use it - not until it was absolutely necessary.

Still, although he had yet to use it, the nonstop fighting had left him a little winded.

Naruto was thinking about just how lucky they were when stone chunks began flying at them from out of nowhere. _After dodging those attacks,_ Naruto thought, _we're not gonna be in good enough shape to pull this through!_

Sieghart needed some time to regenerate his battle aura as well, because he also got B4U to take on Duelist Mode for an extended period of time. _Oh, for the love of Zen, I always thought we'd end up skipping on taking this bugger on, _he thought as a stone monster even larger than the one Sieghart took down earlier strode out of the ruins.

Jiraiya and the two kunoichi went towards the duo, ready for battle.

"Those flunkies weren't that troubling," Jiraiya said. "Now you guys stay with Kin-chan while she uses her healing techniques. Hikaru and I will take care of this."

"You sure?" Sieghart asked.

"Positive," the Sannin answered, and the Highlander got it immediately. The man's eyes had begun to turn yellow, and there were two toads perched on his shoulders. Looks like the old lech is getting serious."

"All right," Naruto said. "Good luck, Sensei... Otsuka-san."

Hikaru barely managed a bow before readying her axe and summoning a healing totem for the two ninja before following the Toad Sage into the fray.

* * *

"He's gone a long way from before," Mari Ming Onette said to no one in particular as she locked onto another skeleton and put it down with a shot to the head.

"I can dance all day, I can dance all day if you want me to... try and hit me... try and hit me..." she muttered as she reloaded the Maverick, putting another one through the head of a dark mage.

"Didn't I tell you that I'll blast if I have to, so please don't make me have to squeeze this trigger?" she asked as the wave died out.

She had coordinated the defense of Silver Cross Town to the best of her ability - and when she felt that ripple in the air that was Reynard's Buster Cannon spell, she smiled to herself. Things were going just as planned, because the blatant display of power had most of the other monsters making a beeline for the source, leaving only a token invasion force to try and run over Silver Cross Town.

Now, all that was left was to make sure her sentries were all at a hundred percent, and to pray that the impromptu Chase they had put together would finish the mission.

_We'd have much better chances if Elesis, Ronan, Jin, and that Asmodian were here, too, _she thought as she cornered the last of these skeletons before outdrawing the archer and scoring another kill.

"Boom. Headshot."

* * *

Otsuka Hikaru was awed.

_So THIS was part of a Sannin's true abilties._

Something that resembled the mana she was tapping into when using Fafnir was flowing steadily from the Toad Sage as he ripped into the gigantic golem, parrying its giant stone hands like they were nothing significant, and raining powerful blows into its head and body.

The golem even tried to roar its way to confuse the Toad Sage, but it was all for naught as Hikaru roared louder, overriding the attack.

Two straights to each shoulder, and the golem couldn't even move its arms.

"Hikaru! Now!" Jiraiya yelled, and the Grass kunoichi stepped onto the Sannin's back for leverage, leaped into the air, brandished her Device, and with a massive scream, focused her mana.

_**"Hammerbrecher,"**_ echoed Fafnir, which had now grown to several times its size as it crashed into the golem's head. The shockwave of the impact was great enough that the large stones making up its structure began to come apart.

Kin and the others made short work of the smaller golems, and when they turned to where the Sannin and the Grass-nin were fighting, they had already seen the temple in the distance.

_Hold on... _Naruto thought. _Just a while longer, hold on..._

_

* * *

_

The two girls almost shivered under the gaze of their master.

But it was a misunderstanding, as what they thought to be the blank eyes of one who was about to tear them apart were the tired eyes of a young woman who had a lot happen to her in the recent past.

And it looked like it was going to get worse for a certain Yagami Hayate.

"Look after the house while I'm away," she said evenly. While she did agree to this impromptu lunch meeting with Admiral Chrono Harlaown, the TSAB Lieutenant Colonel and former commander of Riot Force 6 sensed something was off as to why he wanted to meet - and at a neutral place, to boot!

The two girls did not even meet her gaze as they bowed their obedience to their new master.

Hayate sighed. "Feel free to raid the fridge, I'm gonna do some grocery shopping after this meeting," she said before leaving.

Once the door had closed, Aria and Lotte Liese breathed a humongous sigh of relief. A day passing by without their new master giving them what they dreaded, but most likely deserved, was what they thought to be not a bad day.

It was a little better compared to the days leading up to their old master's death. To see him wandering, speaking of various things, losing control over himself slowly, until the very last moment where he couldn't even recognize them...

...and then they remembered what they had done on his orders to who would end up as their new master, and the feeling of wretchedness the two familiars had resurfaced.

The road to redemption was long, hard, painful, and fraught with disappointment, so the saying went...

* * *

By now, the five ninja had at last broken through the final rank of monsters and was now at the temple.

And waiting for them just outside was the engineer of this whole sordid affair - the deranged priest Yomi - and lying in a heap a short distance away was the priestess Shion.

Shion-sama, judging by their Devices' diagnosis, was fine - but she was asleep. No other injuries or other grievous things happened to her, thank goodness.

"Jiraiya!" roared the priest as he felt the presence of these five interlopers who dared intrude upon his grand summoning of Moryo to purge these lands of filthy infidels.

"He looks like he knows you," Naruto said. He put in his share to get through that green giant and Sieghart helped out in clipping that blue fairy's wings, but they had been run ragged by the sheer amount of enemies they had to cut down to get here. "So how are we going to get the client from him?"

"Just follow my lead," Jiraiya whispered. "When you see the cue, you move in with that Flash Move technique and get the girl out of here."

"Have they summoned that Moryo person or thing?" Hikaru asked.

"Not really," Sieghart answered. "They say it's some powerful demon, but..."

The Highlander scratched his nose. _This is getting too familiar. And why am I feeling like something really troublesome will happen soon?_

"You feel it too?" Naruto asked as Kin nodded her assent. "It's like we've been here before. Even when getting here, my Device kept giving me feelings of deja vu."

Hikaru merely nodded as Jiraiya continued.

"How are you doing back there, Jiraiya?" bellowed the priest.

"Come over and see for yourself," the Toad Sage answered.

"Jiraiya... put your head out. One kunai, right between the eyes," the priest said. "I'll make it quick, for old times' sake."

"They have some history together?" Naruto asked Sieghart.

"Why ask me, I've just been around here for three measly years?" Sieghart asked back.

"Maybe when this is over," Kin said. "Now be quiet, we'll make our move when we see a chance. He's still too close to the girl."

"I'm nearly out of chakra. I'm the one you want," Jiraiya answered. "Stop fucking around, let the girl go. It's me you want."

"Come on. Deadbeat priest beats famous Sannin. I'm nearly out of chakra. You can beat me."

Under cover and moving closer to the target, Naruto could see that his master's prodding was beginning to have an effect on the mastermind.

"You don't have to throw that kunai. Stick it in me... look me in the eye... and see what's in there when you twist it."

The look on Yomi's face grew more and more deranged as the Toad Sage kept on.

"I could kill you."

"Let the girl go... This is your chance of payback. Don't shortchange yourself. Come on, Yomi... let's party..."

That seemed to have been the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back, as he strode forward, allowing Kin to Flash Move through the bushes, grab the priestess Shion, and move back under cover.

The strange thing was, Yomi didn't even notice. Even stranger, was that all of them could sense that the priest's chakra stores were gradually becoming thicker, more potent, and swirling with malice.

"I can beat you."

**"I don't need the girl!"**

**"I DON'T NEED THE GIRL... I'M GONNA KILL YOU NOW!"**

With a mighty roar to the heavens and a flash of black chakra, Yomi's body strained to keep the vile energy within him.

Everyone gaped at the sight - slowly but surely, the priest was transforming. His skin had darkened to an inky black with white markings, wings sprouted from his shoulders, and gold wristbands adorned his arms.

And still he kept growing.

Kin had noticed the kunoichi from Grass clutching her chest and trying not to whimper in pain.

"You okay?" she asked.

"My... bloodline... going haywire..." Hikaru whispered through gritted teeth.

_This is bad. Naruto and Sieghart are tired, Jiraiya can't do that toad thing anymore, I haven't started on Scheherazade's combat protocols... and now Hikaru's acting up!_

Kin just did what she could - she grabbed onto the taller girl and used Flash Move to get to safety - where she had left an unconscious Shion behind.

"What-what..." Hikaru muttered out.

"Look after the client," Kin said. "I'll try and see if I can back everyo-"

Her statement was cut short as a terrific crash sounded right outside the small cave she used as a makeshift shelter. Upon going outside, Tsuchi Kin's breath held in her throat.

Jiraiya the Toad Sage was in the center of a crater several feet across. He didn't look like he was gravely injured, but the way his eyes were closed indicated that he couldn't be of any help in the battle.

_Down to two fighters versus that monster... _Kin thought. _Oh, if only I could fight! Should have listened to Sieghart-sensei..._

**_Hindsight, my lady, is always perfectly clear._**

_Let's just fix up the Sage and then Hikaru-san, shall we?_

**_Very well, my lady, _**Scheherazade answered.

As she carried the Toad Sage to the makeshift shelter, she wondered and hoped that Naruto and Sieghart-sensei would somehow pull through... and she began to take account of just what she would do if they didn't.

* * *

"So... How are you coping?" Chrono asked Hayate once their meal had ended.

The two TSAB officials were at the Uminari City park, seated on a bench while watching the people pass by.

"I'll be fine," Hayate answered. "You're probably the twentieth person who asked me that."

Chrono chuckled. "Even the ladies at the branch office miss you, you know. They even say that when the old Hayate comes back, they're not gonna be wearing bras under their uniform, you know. Just for you."

Hayate instantly reddened. "B-b-b-but Admiral..."

Chrono laughed. "You're getting better already, see?"

The Lieutenant Colonel simply stuck out her tongue before pouting.

"Well, Signum and the others are at work, Nanoha and Fate, well... they did attend as a courtesy, but more out of concern for you."

"You can say that again. They've been calling me ever since we heard the news. Even offered to spend the night at my place until I put myself back together."

"And you're finished with that?"

"Just a few pieces left, and they're the most troublesome ones... like why would Uncle Gil leave me his familiars?"

"Knowing him?" Chrono asked no one in particular, "Admiral Graham probably did it for you to forgive him. You know, for everything."

"Every time I see them with that caught-in-the-headlights look, I want to grab each of them by the shoulders and shake them while I'll scream **'WHAT'S DONE IS DONE! I'VE ALREADY FORGIVEN BOTH OF YOU SO STOP HURTING YOURSELVES!'**" Hayate said wistfully.

The mental image of that got a few chuckles out of the TSAB Admiral. "You're really sure you're okay with it?"

"I've been okay with it for a long time. Sure, there were moments where I thought about hitting them back... but since Signum and the others made it back safe and sound... and it all ended up working out back then... I think it's selfish of me to hate them."

"You still hate them, don't you?"

Hayate nodded. "They keep going back to that time."

"Well, that's another thing I want to talk to you about."

"What do you mean?"

After several minutes of Chrono narrating the abstract's contents to Hayate, the Lieutenant Colonel was surprisingly subdued about the whole thing.

"Let me get this straight," Hayate said, "we're up against something like the Tome of the Night Sky, a sub-registered Unison Device, several reality-warping Lost Logia and a S-rank fugitive, all in one unadministered world?"

"That's basically it," Chrono answered.

"And we're basically on our own, because the higher-ups would only prevent us from quick and decisive action?"

"That's right," the Admiral said.

When Chrono shifted his gaze at Hayate again, he was more than slightly unnerved at the change: gone was the tired young woman whose adopted uncle was laid to rest yesterday. Here now was a TSAB Lieutenant Colonel, an SS-rank mage, and the fire in her eyes reminded him of that time at the hot springs where she managed to feel up all her female subordinates in under five minutes and make an accurate description as to the feel and texture of each one's breasts.

"When do we start?"

* * *

So... the monster is a gateway.

To a new world, it seems.

They call it a new world, yet it has existed before their age.

The secrets of this world are about to reveal themselves.

We shall begin our noble quest.

Let the Red Dawn be gathered.

Laughter echoed throughout the subterranean chamber as a small signal to start the culling of the Ninja Countries began to take effect.

The Akatsuki was on the move.

* * *

"So... it's you again... Dark Armon..." Sieghart said, hefting the composite weapon he called the Solluna with difficulty as he went into his fighting stance.

"Kukukukukukuku..." the creature said. "Imagine that, to be here, once again, and to be faced by you. And... you."

_**If worst comes to worst, I'm going to authorize Unison.**_

_But if we do it when I'm injured like this, who knows what may happen?_

_**I know... which is why I'm telling it to you now!**_

_We'll see just how far we can go before I even consider it, _Naruto answered. Jiraiya had thought to try and knock out this monster by charging in with a Sage Mode-enhanced uppercut, but all this Dark Armon did was blast a spherical wave of energy that sent the Toad Sage flying into the horizon.

He got a notice from Scheherazade, Kin's Device, that the Toad Sage somehow managed to divert his remaining Nature Chakra to break his fall, and he was fine... but was unconscious.

That was when the creature lunged at him... only to hit thin air as Naruto swapped with a nearby boulder.

**"Accursed ninjas!" **bellowed the monster.

Naruto took up his Device, brought it back down to Dagger Form, and lunged at the creature with a flurry of slashes. He managed to bury several chakra kunai in the monster's gut, but that didn't seem to faze it.

Several exchanges of blows later, and both Uzumaki Naruto and Sieghart were on their last legs. What was worse... Naruto tried using a powerful Cypher Mode attack variant of his Taihou Rasengan - and the creature simply dispelled it with the same attack that took Jiraiya out of the contest.

"I seriously need to learn how to budget my aura," Sieghart muttered as the fallen guardian of the land strode towards them. "Well, looks like this is it."

"Easy for you to say because you're immortal and I'm not," Naruto answered. "Say, I've got enough left to cast around ten kage bunshin, and I've got a plan. Wanna hear it, or are you going to just give up?"

"Me? Give up? You've got to be kidding. Details, please, before our friend can get here," Sieghart said, pulling himself up and deploying his Device in Duelist Form once more.

"Here's what we do."

Dark Armon was not amused. First, one of them had this bad tendency of swapping with a nearby object to prevent getting hit, and that annoying Sieghart didn't seem to stop bouncing back like a cockroach of the gods!

"Hey, ugly! Here's an Uzumaki special for your face! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" the blonde annoyance Dark Armon saw bellowed out as he went into the fallen guardian's field of vision.

Five copies of him poofed into existence and charged, and with several swipes of his massive arm, the fallen guardian simply wiped them from existence.

"You think that pitiful attack will stop me?" Dark Armon roared, throwing a punch that surprisingly, the boy blocked with his hands.

"Sieghart, now!"

The Highlander sprung from the shadows, the last of his available battle aura burning through his blades as he went to work on the monster's back.

With several deft slices and spinning sword moves, Sieghart carved a painful trail down the back of his opponent.

With a pained roar, Armon swung, sending Sieghart flying back several feet. But when he turned around to his other opponent, Naruto had already dispelled his Barrier Jacket, and was raising his hand in the air, a spinning blue sphere hovering over it.

_I only have one shot at this. Please let this work._

**"DISPERSE!" **Naruto bellowed, and each of the four clones standing before him vanished into strange assemblies of chakra.

**"Taihou Rasengan!" **Naruto yelled as he threw the blue sphere right through the chakra assemblies. As it passed through each, the sphere began changing shape - from a sphere it gradually flattened as it absorbed each of the chakra released when Naruto's clones dispelled. By the time it passed through the last chakra construct, it had become a white sphere of roaring chakra.

Naruto loaded his final cartridge to allow him to use his Barrier Jacket once more, and he ran alongside the white sphere of chakra before calling onto his Device.

"Reynard! Windbreaker Fuuma!"

Naruto grunted to avoid the final pull of mana for this technique - he had done all he could, and the monster was still distracted by Sieghart's attack...

He put his hand alongside the swirling white sphere.

"Summon!"

With one word, Naruto encased the swirling white energies of this new Rasengan variant into the mana construct that was Reynard's Windbreaker Fuuma Shuriken.

Dark Armon turned around.

**"Ougi! Fuuton Rasenshuriken!" **Naruto shouted as he tensed and threw the combined weapon at his intended target.

The creature, sensing that whatever that projectile going towards him was a very bad thing, flared out that attack again - only to find that it only dispelled the Windbreaker, and not the spinning white blade of death.

Sieghart had been thrown by the force of Dark Armon's attempt to dispel the Rasenshuriken, and by using the last of his battle aura, the Highlander managed to right himself and hold onto consciousness as he witnessed Naruto's technique hit.

And then the wind blade exploded, shredding everything in its blast radius.

Back in the cave, Hikaru, Kin and Shion (who had just now awoken) felt that gigantic explosion of wind chakra.

_That's not Moryo... _Shion thought.

_Could it be Naruto...? _the two kunoichi thought.

Jiraiya's consciousness returned, and as he felt that smell of ozone Naruto's wind techniques usually made, he let himself smile. _Now that's the type of thing an A-rank ninja does, _he thought.

Back at the battle, Naruto and Sieghart were incredulous.

The fallen Nephilim, Dark Armon, was still somehow standing. Although he was bleeding from the myriad cuts he suffered from Naruto's finishing move, he still managed to cough out a few words.

"Good. With my death, the way to the New World will be opened. Now... Xenia has returned. The Gods of this world will be awoken once more... venture into your doom!"

Everyone felt a gigantic pulse reverberate from the earth itself, something like a gigantic dispelling... while Dark Armon let out the most vile of laughs. After a minute had passed, it all returned to normal... and the fallen guardian finally succumbed to his wounds and fell still.

The sun peeked out from the skies, signaling that day had finally come.

And as Naruto looked over at the fallen form of Dark Armon, he wondered just what the New World the creature referred to was.

After picking up Sieghart, they went their way to the cave where Kin had taken Hikaru, Shion, and Jiraiya.

"It's done?" Kin asked upon their arrival.

"It's done," Sieghart answered.

"Good job, kiddo," Jiraiya said. "Looks like your nature training paid off big."

"No thanks to you, sensei."

"Even with my aura at full force, I do believe you might be able to cut me with that freak technique you pulled, Naruto," Sieghart said.

"Was it really that good?" Naruto asked.

"It is..." Sieghart answered, "it certainly is. So we've rescued the girl, slain the dragon, so... who's up to going back to Demon Country?"

Everyone cheered.

As they prepared to depart, Kin wanted to take a last look at their temporary shelter, and then she let out a massive gasp.

Turning their heads to find out why, Shion and the others likewise looked upon in awe at a gigantic mass of land floating right above the sea just south of Demon Country.

"Beautiful..." Hikaru said.

Sieghart grunted. "Yeah, yeah. It's always the same. First the awe, and the ooh's and the aah's, and then when trouble comes along, it's gonna be hell in a handbasket."

"Miss Shion, are you all right?" Kin asked.

"Thank you for coming to my aid," Shion replied. "Who would have known that Moryo was actually a disguise for this... this Dark Armon?"

_**I didn't... **_Lass answered in Naruto's mind. _**And why I don't remember is the troubling thing. Isn't it, guys?**_

The other Devices voiced their assent. They should have known this, but why was there a gap in their memories about these events?

Naruto decided that he'd start to find out after returning to Konoha.

* * *

Chrono Harlaown was currently grappling with a few things as he went to the office of the TSAB Director. First was Hayate's mood swings, the fact that the Director had called him on such short notice, and that accursed abstract and how to break the news to the people who needed to know it most.

"I've discovered the little contingency plan put together that your predecessors called Directive 11-2309A, Admiral Harlaown," Director Carim Gracia began as the office door closed behind the TSAB Admiral. "I was about to put a lid on it and veto the mission, but things have changed."

"What do you mean?"

"This," she said, handing over a sheaf of files to Admiral Chrono Harlaown.

"This can't be possible. A timespace displacement of this caliber requires an SS-rank mage or higher."

"Well, it has. And it's right on UW458-2C - which was how I managed to get a hold of the Directive," Carim explained.

"Shouldn't we call at least a combat division on this?" Chrono asked.

"No," Carim answered. "Since the JS incident, we're going to stick to our role in administering worlds, not invading them. Dr. Scaglietti is perhaps the culture shock of all the worlds we've dealt with come back to haunt us."

"In that case..." Chrono said.

"I'm giving you authorization and command over this. If Admiral Lindy and Admiral Graham believe that this can be done with Mobile Assault Force 6, then so be it. Besides," the Director added, "this is a chance for us to provide closure for many things, and... another chance to prove that a formation like what RF6 used to be is feasible in multiple situations."

"Thank you, Director."

"You have two weeks before mobilization. Make the best of it."

"Of course, Director. I shall take my leave now."

Carim simply nodded. "Time is of the essence."

* * *

Once again, master and student were on the tail end of their journey back to the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

While it was dark, they still strived to get to town, because Gamakichi had said that the Hokage required their presence ASAP.

And as they were making haste to return, Naruto and the Toad Sage Jiraiya had their own thoughts about the aftermath.

_"So... you don't want to go back to Kusa for the meantime?" Jiraiya asked._

_"Yes... too many bad memories," Hikaru said as she took the symbol of Demon Country and affixed it to her chest bindings. Sieghart and Kin had long since left back to Sound, since the kunoichi apprentice wanted to become not just a supporter, but a fighter, too. Hikaru, on the other hand, decided to stay in Demon Country to accompany Mari and Shion in keeping the peace and patrolling the trail to the new Continent, which the Demon Country elders had named Xenia._

_Jiraiya gasped, as if a puzzle in his head had just clicked in. "Kusa... you... I know you. You're that Ohno girl. Pretty clever, taking on your mother's name so Kumo would think you died along with your sister and your teammates, huh?"_

_The girl's eyes hardened. "Don't you start on my team and Kei."_

_"Hey, I'm not judging," Jiraiya answered. "Besides, Kumo's been having a change of heart lately - but how long that will last is anyone's guess."_

_"Daimyo or Raikage changed hands?"_

_"Something like that. Kumo's a mess right now. Even my old student does what he can to shelter any civilians caught in the crossfire."_

_"Serves them right."_

**_"My lord, that does not seem to be a productive line of thinking."_**

_"Shut up, Fafnir. You don't know what it's like."_

**_"Mayhap I do, my lord. It was only until now that I made contact with these companions I used to bleed alongside with."_**

_"The Devices?"_

**_"Yes, my lord."_**

_"Well, who would have known?" Jiraiya asked. "But still, take it from me, you're not going to be as good as what you can be if you keep clinging onto those things. If you're a ninja, you gotta get used to the fact that shit can happen at anytime."_

_Hikaru gasped. "But it's too painful..."_

_"Nothing worthwhile is easy," the Toad Sage said, before handing her an orange book. "Here, take it."_

_"'Icha Icha Tactics'?" Hikaru asked._

_"Made a story based off you, your boyfriend and your sister. Hope you like it... it's on page 233."_

_Otsuka Hikaru smiled. These were the memories she made, the only reason why she kept on fighting._

_And now..._

_"...thank you, Jiraiya-san," Hikaru finally said, her eyes beginning to moisten._

_"Aw, shucks," Jiraiya answered. "It's bad for the Gallant Jiraiya to make women cry, you know."_

_"Still... thank you. This... you've given me just enough hope."_

_"For tomorrow?"_

_"No... for days further than tomorrow."_

_"Glad to hear that the Gallant Jiraiya has saved the day yet again," the Toad Sage said, striking a pose._

_They laughed. It could not be helped._

Jiraiya chuckled to himself about that memory, and then Naruto pointed to the horizon, towards the gates of Konoha. They were just a short distance away from home.

Naruto, meanwhile, was still discombobulated by the whole thing. A priestess being kidnapped ended up summoning an army, the priest was a big, black creature, the creature dying revealed a big floating continent, and now this.

_After the Elders of Demon Country had seen Naruto's Device, they had rejoiced at some sort of prophecy coming to pass, and offered the boy several kenjutsu scrolls, which they insisted he have._

_They said that to master them would reveal his weapon's final and most lethal form._

_Thus, as Naruto and Jiraiya took the home stretch to Konoha, Uzumaki Naruto was nervous. A lot of things were going on right now, but he'd take care of them after putting everything in proper priority. Jiraiya, in the meantime, was worrying about who and what would happen in the near future, as an ominous warning by his estranged fellow Sannin unnerved him so._

"They are coming. Get ready."

The incident with the Kusa kunoichi and seeing the training trip with Naruto pay off buoyed up his spirit, but now...

_...maybe this was why Tsunade wanted me and Naruto back quickly, _Jiraiya thought.

Unbeknownst to them, midnight struck - three years to the day of Uzumaki Naruto's departure from Konoha.

They passed the guard and strode into the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

Chapter Two - **END**

* * *

**a/n: **Holy crap those fight scenes were a bitch to write.

And whoopee, more twists, more turns, what fun!

Anyhow, that wraps up the prequel arc, plus we get to see Naruto blasting things with Cypher Form Reynard.

And I'm pret-ty damn sure that based on this chapter, you guys already know which character I based Otsuka Hikaru's design from.

Any reviews of chapter 2 with the right answer only get half -sized cookies. Nyeh-nyeh. :3

mega-dark: Damn, BlazBlue! But sorry, as much as I love the chance of putting Litchi, Taokaka or maybe Noel into this universe, it would just be shoe-horned in. ...and I may have dropped too few clues as to where I got Hikaru from, so my apologies.

WanderingDisciple: I'd really like your assistance, but not with "Twin Fates". Some schmuck reviewer on TVTropes wouldn't give help but rather bashed my writing. I'd love it if you could run "Arcane Heart" through the wringer - it's a good concept, but I feel that a lot of the execution is lacking... hope to hear your response soon!

P.S. I apologize for probably exaggerating Hayate's obsession with breasts. If she was in Emperor Charles di Britannia's "All Hail Oppai" speech, she'd be nodding along and bellowing **"ALL HAIL OPPAI"** with the best of them.

Seriously.


	3. Fourteen Minutes and Fifty Nine Seconds

_disclaimer:_ none of this is mine.

Also, **P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-POWER! *boom***

note: No TSAB vs. Narutoverse until Chapter 4.

Sorry.

I have to update the setting first, and introduce more characters that while limited in airtime, have much greater influence on the present and future plot than what we know.

Regardless, read on and enjoy... and I promise, Chapter 4 will have more befriending time to make up for this.

_Warning: _Rather graphic content within, but it's only at the beginning.

**_edit: _**Mad props to MEKristian of the Viridian Dreams forum for rewriting the Subaru/Tea scene. I'm currently trying to assimilate his writing style to my own, and hopefully, the result will be a better fanfic.

Nevertheless, on with the show! The next chapter's up!

* * *

_Surely the end is a song of the beginning,_  
_A song of a bird flapping its wings._

* * *

_**Naruto: Twin Fates**_

**Chapter 3: Fourteen Minutes and Fifty-nine Seconds**

* * *

She could feel it.

What little of the empathic bond they shared... was steadily weakening.

She was fading... her heart was falling into despair.

Despair grabbed at her heard, and everything was fading fast.

The girl named Alicia swiftly took through the stone halls, her feet carrying her where her instinct willed it.

**They** had been too late several times.

**SHE** would not be too late again.

Several enemy ninja appeared before her, aiming to stop her in her tracks, but all Alicia did was purse her lips into a thin line, flash forward, reveal the razor-sharp edge of her weapon, and slash several times.

Heads rolled and blood pooled in her wake, and she did not look back.

The ball of light she discreetly conjured up in her pursuit told her she was here.

_Well, thank goodness for Wide Area Search, eh?_

There were two guards, but they didn't even put up a fight - Alicia put them to sleep with blows to the head and kicked the cell door open with a cry.

"Alicia... it's you! You've come for me!" a strained, though relieved, voice echoed from within the cell.

She stepped in, and nearly stopped in her tracks when she saw the target.

For Alicia Testarossa, Special Jonin of Konoha, there were very few things that would honestly unnerve her.

Especially with the line of work she went in; and the training trip with her Mother, where they both had taken to honing both their magecraft and the ninja arts... not to mention the sights and horrors they witnessed the further they went along.

This was on another level entirely.

The young woman looked to be very well-taken care of, except...

Her physique had changed... too drastically for Alicia to stomach. She felt like gagging.

The woman was coated in a sheen of pale-white liquid, the light of the prison wall's lamps casting an eerie contrast with her skin... and was that some sort of fleshy ropelike edifice protruding from between her legs?

The bound girl's abdomen spasmed, and a red hunk of flesh where the strange rope was attached decided to drop from the young woman's nether regions, and Alicia had to put a hand to her throat.

She fought back the bile, but as she looked to the woman's face...

...where sightless eye sockets greeted her.

"Alicia, you came for me!" she said, weeping crimson tears in joy that they had finally rescued her, "they've done so many things to me... I don't think I can take it anymore..."

The black void where pearly white eyes used to be swallowed Alicia up...

* * *

"Mama! Mama!"

She opened her eyes slowly.

_It was that dream again._

The woman looked to the worried child standing by her bedside, not even hiding the fact that she had shaken the older woman's shoulders rather roughly.

"Vivio..."

"Mama, are you okay?"

"It's nothing, Vivio... Mama just had a bad dream..." the blonde said, shaking her head as she enclosed her arms around her daughter with a hug.

She fought to shake off the grotesque imagery of the dream and thought about being late for her first day back after another five-month shift in a rather distant Administered World.

Maybe she'd go and visit Nanoha tomorrow at the Training Grounds, maybe check in with Hayate... or maybe go to her Lindy-mama and have a nice, reassuring chat over some tea. Maybe her mother would know what to do when you dream about being someone else - again - for several straight nights.

After breaking the embrace, she stretched out, gracefully alighted from the bed, and made a beeline for the shower.

"How are lessons with Arf?" she asked as she shrugged off the black nightgown and retrieved a towel.

"Pretty good," Vivio answered, "I'm going to spar with her today."

She gave her daughter a sad smile and sighed. "I'm glad to hear that."

As the young woman went to the bathroom to prepare for morning, one Takamachi Vivio looked at the bathroom door, thoroughly befuddled about the whole thing.

_Fate-mama has never been this sad before, except during that time... I wonder why?_

* * *

Alicia Testarossa woke up with a start.

_Damn... that dream again._

Alicia turned around in her bed as the memories and implications of exactly what she ended up doing bounced around her head. An achievement of that magnitude would not come without its strings - and she just found out the greatest one of them.

It had been several weeks since Konohagakure and Kumogakure smoothed out another potentially dangerous incident, what with the civil unrest going on in Kumo.

It had gotten so bad that the Kumo-nin didn't know who really gave the mission orders, who was on whose side, and missions in Lightning Country were generally a higher risk - because there was a chance that you would end up stuck on the business end of a kunai for a simple suspicion of collaboration with the several factions that burst forth in Kumo ever since the Raikage had stepped down.

What followed was chaos - it took an intra-village conflict and a civil war that ravaged Lightning Country for eighteen months to elect a new daimyo and Raikage. Thankfully, the man known as Killer A had a fine nose for politics and knew the best ways to rally the more influential cliques within Kumo under his banner.

Everyone within a certain faction thought that a repeat of the "Hyuuga Incident" would put the "Bloodline Harvester" clique in high places at Kumo - because this time, they actually managed to snag the Hyuuga Heiress herself!

The waif even offered to be taken along, if they'd leave her sister alone. Fine by them; they just needed one Main House Hyuuga for their plans.

They thought they had the perfect ticket to the corridors of power in their hand... unfortunately, there were two people who were at Amegakure and training under the Yondaime Amekage - Nagato - at the time.

The rescue was where Alicia Testarossa gained her S-Rank Bingo Book ranking, as well as the title of "The Scourge of Unraikyo".

It was during the tail end of the pursuit when she heard one of the captors say something along the lines of wanting to know how a Hyuuga princess tasted like.

Despite orders by Precia to stay under cover, she just about had it with these pathetic scum who had the gall to call themselves ninja.

She sprang from cover in an instant, releasing the seals on her Barrier Jacket as well as her Intelligent Device Siegfried as she caught up to the kidnappers and lopped the head off the first Kumo-nin she could find.

A Ragna Bolt to the one holding Hinata and a kunai across the throat made it two down.

The kunoichi who tried to take off a body part with Kairyushin ended up sliced cleanly in two, and as she saw her severed waist, her final thoughts were along the lines of how aligning herself with the Bloodline Harvesters was not such a good idea...

Alicia had finished up and was about to get Hinata to safety when a literal lightning storm impeded her getaway.

By the time her reinforcements had arrived, Alicia had managed to keep Hinata from those three Chunin from Kumo, subduing them even, but their jonin-sensei was a different story entirely.

She was flung aside by a strange yellow tail that appeared from nowhere, and as the lightning was neutralized, it was her mother's turn to dash into the fray.

Pity she'd consumed most of her chakra on this strange guy's lackeys, she would have had enough to get away had she did.

Pity her Raiton: Kage Bunshin only carried enough power to knock enemies out temporarily and not permanently.

Even her mother - fighting at her full strength - was defeated by this weird-speaking swordsman from Kumo, and all their effort would have been for naught.

She remembered the dream.

Those sightless eyes crying red.

The physique that had endured one or perhaps several forced births.

_"Alicia..."_

Even more rage flooded Alicia Testarossa's veins as Hinata's voice in the dream echoed in her head.

Siegfried flashed a warning back then.

_**You remember Jono's warning. Do this, and you'll end up crossing a line you wish you didn't.**_

_I don't have a choice._

_Mother doesn't, and Hinata, too._

_It's up to me now._

She brought Siegfried to its Glaive Mode, and gathered all the chakra she could. _This fool is laughing. He's laughing because he's going to beat me, he's going to send the three of us to some prison in Kumogakure where they'll have us cough out children at the Raikage's leisure._

_No._

**_No._**

**_NO._**

She flashed through the hand seals and put her bloodied palm down.

**"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"**

Dread filled the air as the heretofore gray clouds of Unraikyo suddenly darkened to a deep purple, almost black.

Day became night as black lightning crackled throughout the heavens, and several black bolts crashed just in front of Alicia.

When the smoke cleared, a young man not unlike Teepo stood in front of the Leaf-nin.

The only thing they had in common was the long hair.

Unlike Teepo, this one carried himself with an air of absolute malice.

"So... from killing one another, you come to hire me and my kind to do the killing for you..." he began. "Are you the one who brought me here, little girl?"

Alicia didn't know who this guy was or what he did, but now, she didn't care.

She pointed it at the swordsman.

"No killing, no maiming, nothing permanent. Other than that... go wild."

The silver-haired man with the pointy ears and the purple suit grinned maniacally.

"Based on how much juice you dumped in that technique... I only have three minutes to do my worst."

Alicia sniffed disdainfully, as if the malice in this man had somehow bled onto her.

"Hurry, then."

Killer Bee decided there and then to just get the Hyuuga and get out, but then this guy had to step in, complete with an epic entrance, black lightning bolts, puffs of smoke, and that evil grin!

_Feh, evil grin. I've beat down chumps with meaner grins than that, or my name isn't Killer Bee!_

_**If I were you, Bee... let the girl go, get your team together, and GET. THE. HELL. OUT. OF. HERE.**_

_Hachibi, what's the matter with you? This guy scare you or something?_

_**Even a bijuu like me... cannot hope to tangle with one of... what we call... the Endless.**_

_You're kidding, right?_

Hachibi's silence was the only reply he got.

_This little slip of a Leaf-nin just summoned one of the Endless?_

The Kumo jinchuriki turned his head only to see a red fist close in on him.

And then another.

And another.

The beatdown was on, and Fou-Lu didn't want to waste time. After all, three minutes in the world seemed like three hours to him.

Once the chakra she used would pass, it would be back to the shadows once more...

After a minute of the beating, he had flung his opponent across the field with a kick - and as the swordsman got up, eight whiplike tails of chakra were visible from his aura.

"I just get in one good hit, and for shizzle, you're history!" Killer Bee said as he charged, all seven swords out. It took several moments, but after whirling around the strange man like a buzzsaw from hell, one of his swords ended up cutting the cheek of the Endless of Shadows.

The man grinned as he felt his blood run down his face.

"Well, well, well, you actually managed to cut me!" Fou-Lu exclaimed. "Even if you had to go to eight tails to do so, I am still impressed."

"Sadly," he continued, gathering power in his hand and forming it into a blade of energy, "my summoner's orders take priority."

"The white-eyed princess is already back there, with her team, man! Why you gotta be still here harassin' me?" Bee and his tailed beast asked as they went into another fighting stance before charging in.

"It's a contract. She asked for no killing, no maiming, nothing permanent, so she gets it," the dragon answered as he slashed forward, sending pain through the Kumo jinchuriki. "Would have wanted it to be better terms, but still... you take what you get."

It just took several more slashes to set the ninja adrift on unconscious bliss, but Fou-Lu did as what his part in this Summoning Contract did... and any good work done would go a long way.

After all, Light cannot truly be complete without Shadow.

The reinforcement team from Amegakure arrived to an amazing sight: the valley of Unraikyo was turned into a scorched wasteland.

Killer Bee and his chunin students were long gone; the Hachibi sensed very powerful chakra signals bearing down on them, so it patched up its host enough to beat a hasty retreat, slapped it awake in the mindscape, and had him pick up his cute chunin and scramble.

By the time his chunin had come to, Killer Bee had warned them not to try any of that shit involving bloodline limit theft from Konoha again.

They were lucky it was only Unraikyo that got razed to the ground by the legendary creature this Leaf kunoichi summoned... if they got the Hyuuga girl to Kumo itself...

...there would be no more Kumogakure... but, if by some act of the kami there was a village still, they would probably end up calling it the Village Hidden Under A Gigantic Mountain of Rubble.

As he led his (fortunately) unbloodied ninja back to Kumo (but it would take them several days for the static frizz to vanish from their hair), Killer Bee reminded himself to update Kumo's Bingo Book; there would be a new S-Rank entry for "The Scourge of Unraikyo".

* * *

Back in Konoha, the Hyuuga Clan was thankful for the Testarossa's last-minute rescue of their Heir - and to Hinata's selflessness.

_Goodness knows Alicia wouldn't have been as vicious if Hanabi was the one taken... or did Hinata know this all along?_

_Or maybe... she counted on her friends to do something._

_Was it a premeditated gamble on Hinata's part? _Alicia asked herself. _Nevertheless, it ended up working out... for the most part._

Just hours after Alicia had sunk into bed exhausted from the rescue, she found herself in the sacred halls of Dragnier, home of her summoned dragons, once more.

And instead of the Elder Jono, it was a blue-haired young man who gazed upon her in curiosity, understanding, a bit of anger and a little disappointment.

"I assume you know why you're here," the man told Alicia.

"The Light of the Endless..." Alicia whispered, "the Lord of all Dragons... the Emperor Summon... Ryu..."

"I have half a mind to ensure you won't be summoning any of our kind again, but because I owe it to my old partner Ronan Erudon, I'm going to hear you out. Explain yourself."

Alicia swallowed nervously.

"There was no other option at the time, sir."

Ryu nodded slowly.

"And my opponent turned out to be the jinchuriki of the Eight-Tailed Demon Ox, so..."

"...yes, by all accounts you should not have access to Teepo's Tyrant Form unless you reveal the full power of your Device..." Ryu replied. "Still... of all the dragons, why did you end up summoning him?"

"Sir?" Alicia asked. "I... wasn't exactly thinking straight when I used the Summoning Technique. All I saw, my Mother was down, Hinata-chan was down, and that man was closing in on them."

She took a deep breath before continuing. "It's a fate worse than death if they managed to bring my... Mother and... my friend to Kumo... plus, there was this dream where... so... I guess I don't have any excuses."

Ryu smiled.

"That sounds a bit too familiar," he said, a faraway look in his eyes as he remembered the first time where he called forth the power of Infinity. "And... even though Fou-Lu is still somewhat... polarizing among our kind, we do know enough that power is all about the intent, not the source."

"What do you mean, sir?" Alicia asked.

"It means, I'm not taking you off the Dragon contract," he replied, making the blonde Leaf-nin break out into a thankful smile.

"But that doesn't mean you're entirely off the hook," the Lord of Dragons added. "Until you achieve your Mastery Form, I'm limiting your ability to summon our kind. In your world... they would call it 'putting you on probation'."

Alicia hung her head.

"You can still summon Teepo, though," Ryu said. "But he'll take on a more supportive form than usual."

"Thank you... sir."

"It's no problem. How about you run along, now. You still have a ways to go before you achieve the Mastery Form, do you not?"

The girl nodded appreciatively before Ryu returned her to Konoha with a wave of his hand.

As he looked at where the girl stood, Ryu's line of thought was interrupted.

"She didn't suspect a thing?"

"No... she didn't. She even took her punishment better than I thought," the Lord of Dragons answered. "Meeting her removed a lot of my suspicions. We're in safer hands than I previously thought."

"Told you she didn't bother to find out who I was," Fou-Lu answered. "All she wanted was to save her friends - who knows, if she gets into a bind once more, it might be you she ends up summoning."

Ryu shook his head.

"She doesn't know that I've bound her contract to Teepo."

"That's rather wise of you. She gets Mastery and a powerful summon, Teepo's Tyrant Form is unsealed, and any potential disaster involving either you OR me would be averted."

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it. After all, we are two parts of the same whole, are we not, Ryu?"

"Only recently, Fou-Lu... only recently."

* * *

The briefing in front of the Hokage went the way Alicia and Precia had expected, except for one thing.

There was another VIP in the room as Senju Tsunade-sama heard the debriefing of two of her ninja.

"My daughter has always been empathetic, especially to those she considers precious to her," Precia Testarossa said after delivering the report. "During the days that led up to this incident, she had been telling me about some rather vivid nightmares she'd been having, mostly revolving around Hinata."

"Hello, ladies." the VIP said in a resounding baritone, and recognition dawned on Precia Testarossa's eyes: _the new Raikage is **here?** What could be the reason for his presence? Unless..._

"Look at your Hokage. Now back at me. And my apologies for that... 'incident' a few weeks back."

"The Raikage?" Precia asked, glancing back at the Fifth Hokage. "Here?"

"To answer your question, I'm here to prevent another potential conflict from taking place. Look at the report... now back to me. Turn to the page with my ANBU report on the political background of this incident. Now back to me."

"Sadly," Killer A continued, "we all thought that the advent of the new Daimyo of Lightning Country meant the end of conflict within our Hidden Village. That didn't happen. Factions upon factions decided to take advantage of the chaos to further their own goals, and with the new Daimyo just sorting things out, my hands were tied."

"And the people who tried to kidnap Hinata?"

"Yes, they were part of a small but influential clique within both Kumo and Lightning Country. Presumably, they would have used this incident to raise their standing with the Daimyo and myself. But..."

"...what you, dear girl, ended up doing..." the Raikage said, turning to Alicia, "was give me and the Lightning Daimyo a perfectly legitimate excuse to flush out and make sure the 'Bloodline Harvesters' don't cause trouble for either the Lightning Daimyo or myself. They're on a boat right now. A very... nice boat."

"Thank you, Raikage-sama... I guess," Alicia said, bowing.

"None of that, girl!" the Raikage answered. "I should be the one thanking you. That little wake-up call you gave my brother got him to quit goofing off with his amateur rap career."

"So yes, even my brother - whose feathers you ruffled quite nicely - owes you a debt of gratitude," Killer A said, his voice swelling as he got more passionate about the thought that his brother would finally live up to his potential as a ninja, "though it will take some time before he gets it."

Sure, he did give the fledgling rap star time off every week to make sure Bee's 'rap games wouldn't end up hijacked', or so his brother put it, but that was a pittance in exchange for him actually manning up and stepping up to his duties admirably.

"What's on the table? Back at me. It's a document from the Lightning Daimyo with a renewal of the treaty between Leaf, Rain and Cloud. Look again, I've even included a reward!"

_Well gosh darn. The Raikage may have looked like a more subdued version of his brother, but damn if he wasn't good at sneaking documents in,_ the kunoichi thought as there on top of the Hokage's table was a signed renewal of the peace treaty between the three Hidden Villages concerned - and a check for five per cent of the combined estates of everyone who backed the "Bloodline Harvester" horse.

"Now if you'll excuse me, ladies, I have to get back to Kumo. Leadership duties and all that. And remember," the Raikage said, "anything is possible if you put your mind into it."

He opened one of the office windows in the Hokage Tower.

"I'm on a horse."

Sure enough, the Raikage jumped out of the window and galloped off into the horizon, riding on top of a palomino filly.

As Shizune scrambled into her master's office and closed the window, only one thing was on the mind of the Fifth Hokage and both Testarossas.

_Where did he get that horse from?_

* * *

"We've found the remaining Jewel Seeds."

"But I thought they were lost... Admiral."

Chrono winced upon seeing Fate's expression turn dour. Until now, this was a rather sore spot for his adoptive sister. "Not only that, I'm sure you've heard of the 'Tome of Midlight's Deep'."

"It was one of the contemporaries of the Tome of the Night Sky, only rumored lost... it's in the same world with the last nine Jewel Seeds?" Fate Testarossa asked in abject horror.

"Now you see why the briefing asked for Mobile Assault Force 6?" Chrono asked. "For this OP, I'll be needing the best in the business, and that's you, Nanoha, the Wolkenritter, and the Forwards you two personally trained..."

"...oh yeah, and I had the ferret dig up anything on that Tome from the Infinity Library. Didn't even have to twist his arm for that," Chrono said with mock malice on his face.

Fate sighed. _Does he think picking on Yuuno is funny, even after all these years? _"So he'll link up with us after his digging is done?"

"Actually, he's almost done. If my calculations are correct, he's gonna be with us on board the Eden."

"More manpower is a good thing, of course..."

"...I even pulled Nakajima Ginga off rehab duty for the Numbers."

"This is something like the JS Incident, isn't it?"

"It may be worse than that..." Chrono answered, "much worse, so I won't be leaving anything to chance."

"Understood. Give me 12 hours to prepare, Admiral."

Chrono sighed as Fate left the office.

_That was... not how I wanted to deal with this. And furthermore... she'll probably hate me for hiding what I do know about this mission... there really is no decent way out from this for any of us, is there?_

He looked to his table where a picture of his mentor, Admiral Gil Graham, was.

_Looks like this is going to be my major screw-up, just like what yours was several years ago, _he thought as he gave the picture a glance, and sighed before he finally went to the phone.

There really was no time to be emotional, there is a big mission to prepare for.

He punched in the keys to the next contact.

* * *

Alicia hauled herself from bed, giggling slightly as she remembered that debriefing. To call the Raikage "eccentric" would be a massive understatement.

But of course, as he walked around with a pair of white silk pants, a dark-blue scarf with white pinstripes around his neck and shoulders, a pair of ninja sandals and nothing more! Let's not forget him showing off that athletic physique wherever he went, too.

She was still trying to figure out where the Raikage conjured up that horse from when she heard the sounds of cooking in the kitchen.

Curious as to who it might be, she put up Siegfried on low alert and walked over to the apartment kitchen...

...only to see a blonde-haired young man making breakfast over the stove.

"Alicia-oneechan!"

"Naruto?"

* * *

The orange-haired girl sighed heavily, her foot tapping in impatience. The stupid girl had the nerve to wake her up by groping her, and yet she couldn't be bothered to wake up when somebody politely knocked? It wasn't like she could change her mind about it this time, since orders had come directly from Admiral Harlaown himself. So she waited as her temper slowly bubbled, ready to burst when she finally heard the scrambling behind the apartment door to open the lock.

"H-Hello…?" Subaru mumbled with a yawn as she slowly opened the door. _Damn it, _she thought; all that anger suddenly ruined by how adorable the other girl looked. Dressed in only some pajama pants, a buttoned-up top that was slightly too big for her, and a nightcap, Subaru groggily rubbed the sleep from her eyes, obviously still not fully awake. Teana had to bury her face in her palm to keep the other girl from seeing the rising color in her cheeks.

"Subaru," she said evenly as the other girl blinked several times, obviously trying to piece things together in her head. And then she finally got it, her eyes shooting open as the orange haired girl knew what was coming next.

**"TEA~!" **Subaru squealed, launching herself at her friend, who tried to dodge out of the way a fraction of a second too late, leaving the indigo-haired girl leaning precariously, with her face resting squarely on Teana's chest.

"S-Subaru! G-Get off! Idiot!" Teana said, trying to get her off as the other girl only squeezed tighter, even moving her head this way and that, enjoying the feel of the orange-haired girl's cleavage and making happy, cooing noises.

"But... it's been so long... since I saw Tea last!" Subaru said between the happy noises.

"S-Subaru! Air!" Teana wheezed, causing the other girl to almost instantly release her.

"Whoops," Subaru said, scratching the back of her head, "got a little carried away there…"

"I'd contest the 'little' part..." Teana muttered to herself, before Subaru grabbed her hand and led her into the small apartment.

"Come on; come on," she said with full enthusiasm, "sit down, I'll go make some tea!" And before the other girl can protest, Subaru had already bounded off to the kitchen. _Oh well, it's not like wasting a little time will hurt too much._

A few minutes later, Subaru walked back into the living room carrying two cups of tea, handing one cup off to Teana, who muttered some thanks in return, before taking her own seat, sitting there with a huge smile.

"You're not one to sleep in," Teana said, eying the other girl, "so what took you so long to answer the door?"

"Ah," Subaru answered, looking sheepish, "well, Disaster Prevention is on call 24/7, you know? So we had a mission that ran really late last night. You should have seen it, Tea; there was this huge boulder - like, skyscraper huge - coming right at me, so I used all my remaining cartridges and sent it flying with one punch! Just like Domon Kasshu and Master Asia did!" Subaru punctuated the last few phrases by taking a stance, and Teana decided right there and then that she would have to give the Lieutenant Commander a little talk about Subaru's access to media from Non-Administered World #97.

"So, Tea, why did come to see me anyways? Don't you have a lot of important stuff to do?" Subaru asked as she gave her former partner a quizzical stare, tilting her head to the side. The orange-haired girl sighed.

"There's something important I have to tell you." Teana finally said.

"Are Nanoha-san and Fate-san finally going to tie the knot?" the other girl asked.

"No. Why would you even think that?" Subaru placed a finger to her chin in thought.

"Then, Nanoha-san and that Librarian friend of hers, you know - the one who can turn into a ferret; or maybe **he's** with Fate-san? Or, goodness gracious - the three of them could, I guess..."

"No! Why are you so interested in other people's love-lives, anyway? Don't you think they'd tell you themselves if that's what it was?" Subaru blinked at her colleague's scandalized expression, scrunching her eyes shut as she thought up another possible problem.

"Ah, you need bail money for Lieutenant Commander Yagami?" Subaru asked, and Teana almost facefaulted at that response.

"Idiot! What the hell would she be arrested for anyways?"

"Sexual harassment, of course." Subaru said, nodding sagely as if it were the most obvious answer in the universe; which, given that Teana had a moment to think about it, really was the obvious answer.

"No," she said flatly, "nobody has been arrested... yet."

"Ah-ha!" Subaru exclaimed, striking her open palm with her fist in realization, "After all this time, you've finally worked up the nerve to tell me that you l-!"

"**NO!**" Teana shouted a little too forcefully, as she felt her face start to turn crimson, "T-That's not it at all! W-Why would you even think that! Idiot!" Subaru just let out a contented 'Mm-hm' causing Teana to slump back in her seat, face still flushed.

"So, what is it, Tea?" Subaru asked with genuine curiosity. Teana then took a moment then to recompose herself before she delivered her message.

"I got word from Admiral Harlaown," she said without preamble, "Riot Force 6 is back in business, so everybody's getting back together."

"Really?" Teana stopped herself from palming her face at the enthusiasm the other girl is generating.

"Yes, really," she answered, rubbing her temples, "It's an off-world mission, so they've already charted a transport for us-"

She never got to finish her sentence, as Subaru suddenly swept Teana off of her feet, happily carrying the two of them around the room in some sort of dance.

"Woo-hoo!" Subaru cheered as she gracefully slid across the floor, "I get to go on another mission with Tea and Nanoha-san! Today is **super special-awesome!**"

"Idiot," Teana muttered, "this is embarrassing…" Still, she had to admit that she was glad that her oldest friend included her... besides Nanoha-san, her childhood idol.

* * *

"So what you're saying is, you guys saved Hinata-chan from another kidnapping attempt, you were hit with a limiter on your summons for it, and Aunt Precia has to..."

"Yeah, Mother is going to be teaching the remedial genin program. It's strange, because that was what she had been planning to ask Hokage-sama for after the training trip," Alicia answered, "and Hokage-sama basically said that was her punishment. Imagine that."

"Wait, Aunt Precia? **At the ACADEMY?**"

Alicia nodded, and Naruto couldn't help but be torn between laughing out loud and shuddering. Those would-be genin wouldn't know what hit them.

The image of the Lightning Goddess of the Leaf herself twirling a kunai in her hands while cackling evilly at her students caused both Alicia and Naruto to shake their heads to try and remove the mental image.

"What about you, what happened during the training trip?" Alicia asked.

"Lots of things, oneechan," Naruto answered. "Mostly ninjutsu and going back to the basics. Jiraiya-sensei's techniques were made for stealth, plus to master the more advanced forms of Lass' fighting style, I had to drop a significant amount of speed and power for precision - but I've made progress... or so Lass says."

"Really? Well, I've made a lot of progress too, but..."

"How about a spar, oneechan?"

"Maybe after you meet with Hokage-sama. I'm due to meet Haku-chan in a bit."

"All right," Naruto answered as they went back to breakfast.

* * *

"Hello, Shamal."

"Admiral Harlaown!" the blonde woman exclaimed. "To what do I owe the honor of your visit?"

"Nothing much, just catching up with old friends..." Chrono answered as he took a seat on the physician's table. "That, and I've been cleared to reassemble RF6. Something big is up."

"How big?" Shamal asked, her expression immediately serious.

"Like 'Tome of the Night Sky' big."

"Oh dear," the physician replied.

"If you can gather the Knights, do so as soon as possible. I'll have to brief you en route, time's short."

"Understood, sir."

"Thanks. Oh, and... are the rumors true about you and Nanoha's older sister?"

The eyes of the Lady of the Lake widened as a blush began to spread over her face.

"That's baseless!" she answered indignantly.

"And a good day to you, Dr. Shamal," the TSAB Admiral said as he waved at the Wolkenritter member before leaving the clinic. "I'll be seeing you and your fellow Knights in a bit."

_Sometimes it was good to be a TSAB Admiral, as you could push people's buttons easily and get away with it, _Chrono thought as he went towards his next destination.

* * *

It was a rather routine debriefing with the Fifth Hokage regarding Uzumaki Naruto's training trip.

What wasn't routine to him was, as Naruto passed by the mission office, to see his former teacher at the Academy - and now Academy teacher **AND** Hokage Tower desk jockey extraordinaire Umino Iruka - openly flirting with the Hokage's apprentice Shizune.

_Well I'll be, _he thought, and grinned evilly as a plan for a small prank formed in his head just as his old teacher's gaze swung over to him.

Naruto raised his fist, unfurled his pinky finger and wiggled it as his eyebrows went up and down while looking at his sensei.

He didn't even bother to see his old sensei's reaction as he turned and laughed his way out of the Hokage Tower.

_Now **that's** making your return known._

Naruto had walked a short distance from Hokage Tower when he ran into the first familiar face of the day - the blue shirt, white pants and trademark hairstyle couldn't be missed, even from a distance away.

"Mr. Uzumaki?"

"Mr. Uchiha?"

* * *

Boom.

Once again, the members of Mid-Childa's newest class of long-range Mage trainees were in awe at the sheer destructive power their instructor possessed.

First day in, she revealed her motto - "Maximum Power!" - and today, she had turned it into something inspirational, all the while giving an on-the-fly lecture on the practical use of Mid-Childa type long-range attack magic in various combat situations.

"In battling a foe whose expertise lies in long-range attacks, the secret is to not immediately close in to melee range or attempt to counterattack with your own long-range attack."

"So you're asking us to be sitting ducks, Instructor?"

"Far from it. The point is to observe - observe carefully."

"Calculate the time between firing and craft an approach based on that?"

"Precisely, and when you reach your optimum attack range..."

"You vary the timing so as to make your attack unpredictable."

"Exactly! And for your assignment-"

The buzz signaling the end of classes echoed throughout the training hall.

"-we're going to do a little theorizing, and then we'll hit the training field day after that," the white-clad instructor said, not missing a beat. "Understood, students?"

"Yes, Instructor Takamachi!"

"Very well then, dismissed."

After the students had filed out, it was a weary but accomplished Takamachi Nanoha who walked out of the classroom-slash-training area... only to run into her partner.

"I still have yet to tell them I prefer being called Nanoha-sensei, but... Fate-chan... what brings you here?" she asked, her exuberant tone dropping as soon as she saw Fate's blank eyes.

"We're going on a mission," her partner replied in an almost robotic monotone.

"A mission? But Riot Force 6 is..."

"...ask my brother - er, Admiral Harlaown - about that. We're required to go as soon as possible - S-rank priority. Signum and the others are already on board, the Forwards, too."

"...but I still haven't done any demonstrations..." Nanoha said sadly, her mood being carried along with that of Fate's.

"I'm sorry, Nanoha... but you'll have to let someone sub for you," the blonde replied before looking to the side, and the brunette easily saw that Fate's eyes were rimmed with red.

"Fate-chan, you know that's not why I'm sad," she answered. "Your eyes look like you've been crying. Anything wrong?"

Fate T. Harlaown let out a slow breath before answering. "Just some bad dreams, Nanoha... it won't impede me on this mission."

"If you say so... but if you need to talk about anything, I'm always available, okay?"

Fate nodded. "Okay."

_To dream of being Alicia again... Nanoha must not know._

_No one must know._

They walked out of the training halls and back home to prepare for what would be a mission of such importance that it overridden the prior directive that disbanded their little group._  
_

* * *

"Congratulations, dude!" Naruto exclaimed. "I mean, you're like part of the first team of genin to get promoted to chunin in the same exam since the Densetsu no Sannin did! How about that?"

"T'was nothing, really. That six-month trip to Spring Country helped out."

"I can imagine. So... what else is new with you?"

"Six-month ANBU tenure, only ended two months ago."

"Damn, I have a lot to make up for," Naruto said sadly.

"Relax, it's a lot harder than you think," Sasuke answered. "By the way, Kakashi-sensei's getting married this weekend."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Matter of fact, I'm off to buy stuff for the bachelor party... Celebrate sensei's last night as a free man."

"Who's the lucky lady?"

"You remember Akiyama-sensei from the Academy?"

"Akiyama..." Naruto said, drawing on memories and then wincing as he did remember, "no way. Akiyama Tsumugi, the guidance counselor?"

"One and the same. Oh yeah, and Kiba - lucky bastard that he is - managed to reel in Anko-sensei, and they're seeing each other regularly, if you know what I mean."

**"WHAT?"** Naruto's eyes just bugged out at the revelation.

Sasuke let out a grin that would scare the stuffing out of bandits as he thought of a further way to fluster his newly-returned comrade. "He sometimes even tells me that his girlfriend likes it when he uses the knots."

_Knots. Kiba. Wait a damn minute..._

"Naruto, I'm just kidding," Sasuke replied in a few moments as he saw his rival's face rapidly turning green.

"That... that was mean. And **way** too much information," Naruto said after he tried to wipe the image from his head and failed.

"It is, it really is... and uh... Sakura and I?" Sasuke added, "we're kinda seeing each other."

"No wonder you guys are gonna throw such a big party. All those blessings!" Naruto exclaimed, not even missing a beat. "Come on, you're gonna need someone to carry all those bags for you, right?"

"Uh..."

"Hey, a future Hokage's got to be helpful to his peers, right? Lead the way, Mr. Uchiha!"

Sasuke sighed. _Now I remember - he got over his crush on Sakura ever since the third year at the Academy. _"All right."

* * *

"You guys might want to wonder why we're all here today," TSAB Admiral Chrono Harlaown began, "well, wonder no more. I've been given a Directive regarding two kinds of very dangerous Lost Logia artifacts, and the sensitivity of the mission will require a low-volume high-power strike force..."

"Something like Riot Force 6."

The group murmured among themselves.

"Which Lost Logia are we referring to, here?" one of the Wolkenritter, a statuesque pink-haired woman asked.

"I'm sure you and your contemporaries know of the 'Tome of Midlight's Deep', Signum," Chrono answered as he had to hide a sympathetic reaction when the Wolkenritter collectively gasped.

"Has its Guardian Knight System activated?" a silver-haired man in blue asked.

"Yes, it has, Zafira."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's get over there and bash in their heads, already!" a rather short redhead answered.

"Several circumstances will further complicate the mission, Vita, so a direct assault is out of the question. We'll begin with infiltrating the location where most of the Tome's Guardian Knights are located."

"According to Rein," Hayate asked, "the Knights of the Tome are sealed into their respective Devices, right?"

"That's right," Chrono answered. "Their interface and coding system was where Mid-Childa based Intelligent Devices from. Based on breaking info, only two of the Grand Chase are identical to the Wolkenritter - the Catalog Program, code-named 'Mari Ming Onette' and the Administrator Program, code-named 'Sieghart'."

"What are they after...?" Nanoha asked.

"That's also what we're here to find out," Chrono answered. "A conglomerate Device of that power coming online... it would mean that something immense must have happened to trigger its activation."

"Something like the Jewel Seeds."

"Yes, exactly that. Any other questions?"

"Why am I here?" the Unison Device Agito asked.

"As backup," the TSAB Admiral answered. "Who knows if they have Devices of your kind or not? To me, it's best to be prepared for any eventuality."

"Thank you, Admiral," Agito said, satisfied at the answer.

"Erio, Caro... you guys ready for this?" Chrono asked, the two pre-teens nodding vigorously at his question.

"Nakajima - both of you - and Lanster... Mondial. Ru Lushe. This OP will be unlike anything you've encountered. Are you up for it?"

The five Forwards' enthusiastic yell brightened everyone's spirits.

"All right, let's finish our final checks, and we're going at 1100 hours."

"Yes, sir!"

The deck of the Asura-class warship Eden was soon a flurry of activity.

* * *

"Hey, guys!" Naruto said, waving as he approached the training field.

"Oh, hello, Naruto," the feminine-looking ninja said as he approached. "Let's continue that spar later, okay, Alicia?"

"All right, Haku-chan," the blonde kunoichi answered. "So Naruto, how was the bachelor party?"

"Too many strippers, too little booze. And Kakashi-sensei got more lap-dances than everyone else combined just 'cause that newbie Miyuki got his mask off," Naruto answered. "Still, it could have been worse. Speaking of which, why weren't you there, Haku-chan?"

"...I was at the Yamanakas."

"Omiai?" Naruto asked.

"How'd you know?"

"Alicia told me you and Ino were engaged. All that was left was the omiai, you are technically a Clan Head now, right?"

"That's right," Haku answered sadly. "Because of that, my time for training has lessened significantly. Even with Team Guy..."

"What about Team Guy?"

"Long-term mission. Had something to do with Lee and that would-be genin from a year back... remember Yakumo?"

"Oh yeah! Rather cute, she left the Academy on our second year because of health reasons... she's part of Team Guy now?"

"Word around the campfire is that she's the mission client."

"Is that so...?" Naruto asked. "Say... oneechan, you never did tell me about Hinata-chan."

"That last attempt made her stay at home almost all the time. Poor girl's properly paranoid."

"That's just sad," Naruto said. "Why don't we drop by later, try and cheer her up?"

"Good idea."

"Let's bring in the whole gang too, or whoever we can bring."

"Sounds good. So... about that spar."

"Challenge the winner?"

"Good idea. Who's on first?"

What followed was a rather spirited demonstration of new skills, and everyone had something new to share.

* * *

"Glad you could make it, S2," Chrono said with a wink.

"Wouldn't miss this operation for the world," Staff Officer 2 Amy Limietta-Harlaown replied as she manned the still-familiar controls. "And don't worry about the twins - they're with your mother."

Chrono gaped. "M-m-m-mother? She's gonna spoil them rotten!"

"As if we don't," Amy answered.

"We're different - we're their parents."

"No, we're not," Amy said as she stuck out her tongue at her superior officer.

"Sure, keep telling yourself that, S2."

"I distinctly remember that it was on the deck of an Asura-class ship like this where you knocked..."

By now everyone was looking at them, and Chrono quickly shushed his darling wife before his already-shot reputation would take a further dive.

"Ehem," he finally said, "what you just witnessed was nothing more than a momentary glitch. We shall return to our usual standards of carrying out our mission as soon as we take off."

"Seriously," he added with a glare, and the two chuckling techies in the far corner of the control room quickly eep'ed and went back to work.

There were no other incidents as the _Eden_ made its way towards its target: high orbit over Unadministered World #458-2C.

* * *

"Mr. Uchiha ended up doing what?" Naruto asked.

"That's why we've been put to low C-ranks for awhile, Naruto..." Haruno Sakura said over a cup of tea. "He pulled out all the stops - kunai nail file, finger amputation with acid, proctology via chokuto sheath... and then he hit the target with his strongest genjutsu. Had me bring her back to do it all over again."

"Sheesh," Naruto replied. "Without compromising any secrecy statute, what happened to drive him up the wall like that?"

"Usual hijinks," Sakura answered, "the fact that not only did the kids have nothing to do with her grudge, she also had them eaten by an alligator. Sasuke really went to work on her."

"Serves her right, if you ask me," Naruto said. "And Hokage-sama called it **'overreacting'**?"

"That's why we're here now," Sakura answered sadly. "Oh, wait. There was this related case where one noblewoman had her daughter subjected to hypnosis periodically because she wanted him to forget she was married. Sasuke also went to town on that old woman."

"That's old news," Naruto replied. "What did he do to the hypnotist?"

"Guy basically had a heart attack after just one of Sasuke's jutsu. What a pansy - didn't even know how to take what he could dish out," Sakura said, letting out a derisive snort as Naruto had to chuckle at this.

The two former classmates shared a comfortable silence as they sipped their tea.

"You do know that for two years in the Academy, I had this huge crush on you, right?" Naruto asked a few minutes after they had thought their thoughts over empty teacups.

Sakura giggled. "Yeah. I remember you pestering me for dates back then."

"Well," Naruto said, "Sasuke might be seeing you, but I'll always continue to admire you, Sakura."

"Thanks," the pinkette answered, understanding at last. "And here's something about Sasuke you might not have known."

Naruto laughed out loud as Sakura mock-whispered to him, "Sasuke's an ass man."

Somewhere in Konoha, one Uchiha Sasuke sneezed, and then stumbled as he walked onward, grunting as he started filing through the list of people who would probably be thinking of him at that particular moment.

Back in Konoha, Naruto was waving his colleague goodbye. "See you around," he said. "Gotta go meet the Team and then do the D-Rank for today. Hinata-chan's gotta get over her agoraphobia one of these days."

"And I'm sure the one who'll help her get over that is you, Naruto-kun," Sakura answered as she waved back.

"Later, Sakura."

"You too, Naruto."

And with that, the blonde boy flashed his trademark foxy smile before walking towards the Konoha marketplace, all the while noticing that the looks he was getting were now mildly reverent - none of them were hostile or apathetic in any way.

_Okay... this is different. Have they found out my heritage or something? _he asked his Device.

_**Probably not, but the Hokage might have declared something, **_Lass answered.

_**Or... they no longer sense the cursed chakra within you,**_ Reynardine added.

_That's a possibility._

At a cafe nearby, two girls were having their own cup of coffee.

_Finally, we've got something worth sending back: a Device-to-user conversation._

_I can also sense a Unison Device within him..._

_...so is that one of our targets?_

_Mana signature is a match to Reynard, a member of the Grand Chase._

_I'll send the info on up, you continue your surveillance._

_Roger that, Shamal. Have everyone ready for anything. This village, though technologically primitive, houses specialized combatants, much like the Silver Cross Guild all those many years ago._

_Sending info now, Signum. Better keep track of him, our target's stealth ability is phenomenal._

_Acknowledged._

The pink-haired woman finished off her coffee, picked up her handbag, and said her goodbyes to her blonde friend before walking towards the marketplace.

* * *

"So... A-sama... how did the trip to Konoha go?"

"It went as expected, Daimyo-sama."

"Good... good," the daimyo of Lightning Country replied. The daimyo had, to the thanks of everyone in Lightning, turned out to be more amenable to reason than the previous daimyo were.

The only spot to this otherwise perfect arrangement was that Unraikyo would only be rehabilitated after at least two years of hard work and a lot of funds - but that was what completely liquidating the estates of the Bloodline Harvesters was for.

All in all, it was a decent enough arrangement for everyone concerned.

"Daimyo-sama..." the Raikage said, "Konoha is becoming a bit too powerful for our own good. What are your plans about that?"

"The previous daimyo would sell out Yugito and even your brother just to spare Lightning Country from what's up ahead..." the daimyo answered, "but I will not. We'll defend our own territory, even from ourselves if necessary."

"So Konoha's doing was..."

"...Completely within their means to. With one of the major cliques opposing my vision of Lightning Country excised, we can begin progressing further. Do you know why I took this job, A-sama?"

"No, sir... I don't."

"It's so that people - like your brother - can be free to be both ninja and something else, again, like your brother and his music... and for the next generation of Kumo shinobi to be better than the last."

With that, the Raikage understood what the Lightning Daimyo knew: that Kumogakure had been stagnating spiritually even as their temporal power grew.

He also understood the hidden meaning in the Daimyo's declaration: an unbalanced Village would fall.

The daimyo himself even cursed his ill fortune at having foreign shinobi point that fact out to him and to the Raikage.

Still, it gave them a very good opportunity to grow, and both Kage and Daimyo would be damned if they didn't grab it and hold onto that chance with a death-grip.

* * *

Four days had passed since their successful infiltration as civilians into what the intelligence reports said was the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

Aside from finding out the basic setting of their location, nothing much had happened with their reconnaissance... yet.

There was a bachelor party involving several of the village ninja, but otherwise it was more acquisition of information regarding the village they were assigned to scope out, and RF6 had not seen anything out of the ordinary so far.

There was, however, one small incident where the Admiral had Erio and Caro hand over their report to him directly - a list of all current teaching personnel in the Konoha Ninja Academy. The two briefly wondered why something so mundane would be considered top secret, and returned to their duties.

Now, however, something more was afoot...

"Admiral," S2 Limietta-Harlaown said, "there's a huge pseudo-mana-based reaction at point 164.02."

"A Jewel Seed?" he asked.

"No... sir, you've got to take a look at this."

Chrono looked at the visual feed and gasped at the sight - was that monster made of sand?

"Get me Stars 1 and Lightning 1. Intercept point 164.02, that may be a Jewel Seed activation."

"What about the ongoing operation in 'Konoha'?"

"No changes. Have all operatives in 'Konoha' to maintain cover and report every 6 hours."

"Stars 1 reporting," Takamachi Nanoha said as she went up to the bridge following the summons.

"Lightning 1 reporting," Fate Testarossa-Harlaown added as she followed suit.

"The rest of RF6 is still gathering information. This may be an activated Jewel Seed. Subdue the targets and extract whatever useful information you can."

"Yes, sir!"

"Limiter removal authorized, you're gonna have to go in all guns blazing on this."

"Acknowledged," the two mages responded as they made ready to go.

"Good luck," the Admiral said. "And good hunting."

Both women gave him a crisp salute before heading towards Warp Control.

"This is it..." Chrono said as the scene of battle unfolded before him, a behemoth of sand tangling with an army of marionettes and an explosive-wielding man.

* * *

"Do they know you have it?"

"No, sir."

"Good. Now hand the sample over to me."

A hand went inside a bag and pulled out a test tube, the contents within kept to near-freezing temperature by the Hyoton jutsu seals carved on it.

The man laughed loud and long. It took them losing most of their power and influence to acquire this, but it was ultimately worth it.

"How is your cover?"

"Flawless, sir."

"Good. That fool Raikage won't know what hit him when the time comes. Continue your usual assignment."

"Yes, sir."

The man was quickly left alone in the darkened office, holding in his hand a sample that would lead them to greatness once more...

Chapter 3 - **END**

* * *

**a/n:** Me: Come on, let me hear you say it.

Audience: You suck as a fanfic writer.

Me: No! Not that, no... the other thing...

Audience: Nanoha will-

Me: **WRONG!**

_**Explanation:**_ I've already planned out the fight card over the next several chapters, you see. Despite the **OVERWHELMING AMOUNT** of people who want to see Takamachi Nanoha and Uzumaki Naruto throw down during the "Invasion" arc... sorry, it won't happen then.

Naruto has Reynard, the Nine-Tailed Fox, and a small degree of control over the purified chakra that he's currently sealing (it becomes greater over time, as well as when he's in Unison - holy crap, epic foreshadowing!).

Right now, it's a distinct possibility that we'll have the two franchise stars get into an epic spar sometime in the near future - maybe during a lull in the action.

But as it stands, Nanoha has bigger fish to fry than one blonde Device-user: she's been wanting to dispense payback to the one who used, hurt, and discarded her BFF several years before.

Anyway, canon Raikage acts and sounds a lot like Terry Crews. So I thought, instead of Terry Crews' **BLOCK! BUILDING KICK! EXPLOSION! **Raikage, why not have a Isaiah Mustafa!Raikage? You know, The Man Your Man Could Smell Like.

And no, I'm playing this perfectly straight, eccentricities and all. Just assume the Raikage's antics as something similar to Might Guy's.

Also, giving the Raikage a more compact physique would theoretically make his nintaijutsu stronger.

On an entirely different tangent: What is up with how rabid NanoFate fans can get? Some really good writers can and will end up abandoning the pairing just because of how extremist the fanbase can get.

If you don't like the way a story goes because of the pairing (and that is probably one of the most shallow reasons ever), write your own damn fic. With blackjack. And hookers. In fact, forget the damn fic!

One more thing: Brave Phoenix will be playing on repeat while I type out the Fate vs. Alicia fight, and it will be **GLORIOUS**.

P.S. The name of the ikebana teacher Kakashi's getting married to was gleefully swiped from _K-On!_. She also managed to look a lot like Mio, but with Tsumugi's eyebrows and body shape. You'll see a lot of Mugi-sensei in the early chapters of the revised Arcane Heart, as she's part of Team Kururugi (Kururugi Seiryuu, Musashi Ranmaru, Akiyama Tsumugi and Precia Testarossa).


	4. Collision Course

_disclaimer:_ I've said it several times already - none of this is mine.

The fights are set, and it's go time.

And thanks for all the props for the Raikage: the ninja your ninja could smell like. :p

Quoting Michael Buffer, let's get ready to rumble!

* * *

_Though my legs are all tangled, they will surely take me far..._  
_Even if I grab it and manage to hold onto it..._  
_If it isn't you, then what's the point?_  
_So I'll go far into the distance..._

* * *

_**Naruto: Twin Fates**_

**Chapter 4: Collision Course **

**

* * *

**

"All right, let's go through it again: what advantage does three genin have over one jonin?" the teacher loudly and clearly asked the class in front of her. Another day was just beginning to hit its stride in the Village Hidden in the Leaves, and the purple-haired jonin who was tasked to make sure anyone who didn't make the cut in their respective jonin-sensei's test would end up prepared for whatever else may come, and then some. A hand was raised, and Precia Testarossa nodded at the student to stand and give his answer.

"The three genin can use teamwork."

"That's right," the purple-haired Academy teacher said, nodding again in acknowledgment as she pointed at the list of intermediate three-man genin formations illustrated on the chalkboard behind her. "These are variations on your Academy-standard team formations." While it was admittedly an elective part of the Academy standard curriculum, Precia's report to the Fifth Hokage about just how easily exploitable Konoha's security system had become in the past several years gave the Senju gradually increasing reasons to re-establish the ROOT division.

And the attempted kidnapping of one Hyuuga Hinata was the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back.

To wit: the Department that had taken ROOT's place before was very competent and would become a planning and investigation arm of the ANBU itself, but Konoha as a whole had to untangle itself of the political mess Danzo and his cronies had left behind before working on other things. Besides, the Internal Affairs Deparment still had a lot more business to weed through regarding a significant amount of personalities who inadvertently weakened the Village.

These events had, in their entirety, forced the Godaime's hand to bring ROOT back. Once she was finished with this stint in the Academy, Precia would be appointed to lead the revamped ROOT program - deep cover infiltration, information-gathering operatives and limited sabotaging of the programs of other Villages that had the potential to harm Konoha and Fire Country.

"Now, our exercise for today is this: you have had five days' worth of class experience to acquire sufficient information on each other's capabilities. There are twenty-four students here at present; your task is to assign you and your classmates into eight three-man genin squads, with explanation as to why. You will avoid exchanging information with your classmates throughout the hour, at the end of which I will pick up your papers and grade you on your performance."

One of the students loudly swallowed a lump in his throat as their remedial teacher swept her eyes over the classroom. A lot of them thought this remedial training was to prepare them for more mundane genin jobs, such as desk work, hospital medic-duty, low-risk information-gathering, but the past several days of having this... teacher periodically put them through the wringer, classroom or otherwise made them miss the Academy already.

Not only that, but she looked like she had eyes in the back of her head, you couldn't cheat on tests with her around!

One kunoichi hopeful whimpered as the pen she was holding began to shake. _Don't fall apart, Ami! You can do this, you can make it through this and go past Ino-pig and Forehead Girl!_

"Go."

The class quickly and as quietly as possible began their writing.

* * *

If you had to ask the Lady of the Lake how easy infiltrating what their translators and informants called the "Village Hidden in the Leaves" was, Shamal would start to blush, stammer, and look this way and that before telling you that this was all Signum's idea.

Ask the General of Blazing Flame Signum, and she would tell you that it was simple as going on board a merchant caravan and hitching a ride to Konoha, claiming they were travelers, cough out pseudonyms given during the mission briefing by Admiral Harlaown himself, and begin their operation.

It helped that as Wolkenritter, masking their magical presence proved to be second nature.

Also, it helped for the Knight of the Iron Hammer - Vita - to use her childlike form to her advantage - Arf's help on how to make the appearance of the Shielding Guardian Beast - Zafira - look more innocuous was likewise another boon to the Cloud Knights as they took the lead in scoping out Konoha, searching for the wielders of the Devices associated with the Tome of Midlight's Deep, any available Jewel Seeds, or anything out of the ordinary.

Sadly, as travelers, their movement was restricted within the civilian grounds, but if push came to shove, the Wolkenritter would make their move if their target broke thought-speak silence.

And now, here was Signum, following a lead as she detected a Device-to-user transmission. The encryption used was Ancient Velkan, and she deciphered it quickly. What she heard was the Knight chatting about mundane things with... _wait, the Grand Chase!_

This was a Device with a mighty combatant sealed within - if what little of her accumulated memories was correct, the Ancient Velkan practice of sealing the souls of powerful warriors within their Armed Devices was a precursor to the adaptation of fully-sentient AI to Intelligent Devices.

However, this was something else entirely as Signum felt another presence entering the mental conversation.

_The Unison user - I've found it, Shield 2._

_Relay the news to Admiral Harlaown immediately, I've found the Unison Device._

_Pursuit?_

_Lightning 2, pursuit?_

_Lightning 2, come in._

_She cut off her telekinetic link. Why?_

Shamal decided to send in the relevant data back to the Eden before deciding to discreetly converge with her associates, not knowing that she was already being shadowed.

* * *

"Naruto. What's wrong, see something strange?"

For a moment there, Uzumaki Naruto thought that a statuesque young woman with pink hair was giving him a knowing glare.

"Nah... must have been my imagination, Shino."

"If you're sure..."

"Yes. I'm sure," Naruto said, before turning towards his teammate and resuming their walk. "Still, it felt strange..."

The two Konoha chunin were making their way to the Hyuuga Estates, where they were to meet their sensei and the last member of their team, who, because of an unfortunate incident several months back had acquired a near-crippling fear of public places.

Looking back to a few days ago, Naruto was glad that Shino didn't get a hooded jacket - otherwise it would take the hood coming off for him to recognize his teammate on sight. He would have tried to sense his teammate's chakra, but the kikaichu would have reacted, and while he would know it was Shino, the sight wouldn't have been pretty.

"Strange, you say? I thought you were eyeing that woman. Here I thought it was only the Inuzuka who preferred older women."

Naruto gaped at his teammate. "Okay, who are you, and what did you do with my teammate Aburame Shino?"

His glasses-wearing teammate let out a chuckle. "You seem to be jumping into conclusions a bit too quickly, Naruto."

"Yeah, that's right," Naruto said. "Three years of playing with my cards so close to my chest, ah... to be just another teenaged idiot again after three years of training and that endless cloak-and-dagger shit... it is a wonderful feeling."

Shino smiled - though the high collar of his jacket hid it. The three years and the events that made them memorable did wonders for his sense of expression. He still did adhere to the Aburame Clan's creed of dealing with things in an objective, calm, and reasonable manner; but a little smile, laugh, or expression that suggested emotion reminded his team - then and now - that sometimes, the heart has its reasons that reason knows nothing about.

Plus, he ended up a better ninja and had a better understanding of his Clan because of it - nearly all his fellow clansmen took up various hobbies to express themselves - some of which were mundane, with others' bordering on the esoteric. One of his cousins even had several rooms' worth of intricately designed, painted, and arranged plastic models of humanoid robots that were popular when Shino was but a child. Said cousin even gave him an action figure of the show about drills, manly men, and orange sunglasses he secretly watched for the holidays, along with a knowing wink.

Thus did Uzumaki Naruto's chunin teammate carry on the way to the Hyuuga Estates with a little bit more spring in his step.

"Right you are, Naruto... right you are."

Naruto nodded. He understood most of what Shino went through, as he played several roles during his trip outside the village with Jiraiya.

As the two Devices within Naruto's mindscape continued to converse, Lass took a moment to read the notifications Reynard periodically sent him.

"That's odd, Fox. This says that our encryption codes have been updated."

"Encrypted? What would be encrypted? Our conversations?"

It had been three years since the youkai who took on the duty of being the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox had been reborn into something else entirely - a Unison Device with the designated code name "Reynardine". Throughout his early career as a Device, he consulted with Lass frequently about his new state and what he was capable of. Sadly, three years had passed and the former Kyuubi still had a long way to go.

"Going back to what you said... most conversations between Devices and their masters are encrypted, unless we give our assent to share information, right?" the Unison Device asked. "If our encryption codes were up, then that would mean..."

"...someone or something is out there that caught part of our conversation."

"These codes are hard to break, right?"

"Yes," Lass answered, "these are Ancient Velkan-standard codes. But..."

Both of them gaped.

"Someone or something is out there with an Armed Device. And it's not one of ours."

"Should we tell the master yet?"

"Now is not a good time. The master's friend has her mind wounded, and making him on edge will only wound her further. Let us be discreet about this."

"As you say, Lass."

While this conversation was taking place, Naruto and Shino finished the walk to the Hyuuga Estates and were now in the sitting room, waiting for their teammate to emerge.

After several minutes of waiting and a rather tasteless joke (to Shino) by Naruto about a fictional contest between a Kumo swordsman, an Iwa swordsman and a Konoha swordsman (tasteless to Shino because three innocent flies were somehow involved in this fictional contest), the pearl white-eyed kunoichi finally stepped into the sitting room where her teammates were waiting.

Hyuuga Hinata had been a rather shy girl, but her Academy years with her circle of friends gave her enough willpower to seize the "Rookie of the Year" spot under Uchiha Sasuke's nose - unfortunately, it had all been downhill from that point on. She ended up getting mangled by her rather vengeful cousin at the Chunin exams, her grandparents from the Main Branch were ambushed by Sound-nin during the invasion, and she played a mere token role in assisting the current Mizukage during the revolution in Kiri (Team 8 had lauded her for keeping to the sidelines and helping out with the injured, but the way she had been brought up made her think it was a failure).

Still, her capabilities were enough to get her the rank of Chunin back in Suna, teamed up with Aburame Shino and Yoshimizu Ami (Ami didn't make the final round, sadly - given the holes in her skill set, and the fact that Hinata and Shino did most of the metaphorical heavy lifting, it was back to remedial teaching for her).

A year of honing her talents followed, and she was sure she was making progress - but that was when Kumogakure's "Bloodline Harvester" faction decided to spirit her to Kumo once again.

It took two Testarossas, the summoning of an ancient holocaust people only referred to as the Endless, the (too manly for words) new Raikage himself clearing up this potential mess in person by coming to Konoha, and Hinata had returned home safe and sound.

Well, except for the fact that the self-esteem she had been building up for goodness knows how long was gone, replaced with a crippling fear of public places she was only now beginning to try and beat.

As she padded into the sitting room, she was instantly inspired as she saw her teammates - one of them the secret object of her affections - sitting there.

"Shino... and Naruto-kun?"

"The one and only," Naruto replied, flashing that familiar smile as Hinata felt her cheeks beginning to warm up.

* * *

"Can you stabilize him?"

"Enough for me to get him to Chiyo-sama? Give me five minutes."

"I can't give you five minutes, my Suna Bunshin won't last three."

"Gaara-sama!"

"Try to shave off as much time as possible, I'm holding them off to the best of my ability. It's pushing it, but I'll buy as much time as I can."

"Okay," the girl said as she focused on extracting as much of the poison that got Kankuro the puppet-master.

Heeding his teammate's need to concentrate, Sabaku no Gaara turned his gaze over to where his Suna Bunshin were tangling with two enemies wearing the familiar black cloaks with red clouds.

**Akatsuki.**

One of them threw down explosives while on board a bird fashioned from some kind of mud or claylike substance, while the other was a... gigantic construct, slashing at disappearing and reappearing Suna Bunshin with its tail.

Gaara's brow converged in concern. His Suna Bunshin were down to ten.

As the remaining clones of Gaara stepped up their attack as their numbers dwindled, the red-haired Suna-nin remembered meeting his fellow Jinchuriki Uzumaki Naruto two years ago - when the latter's travels took him to Sunagakure.

He said that the acting Kazekage Chiyo-sama was training him for an important task, but he didn't know what it was. Aside from learning to work with Shukaku better - something he had awed Naruto with during a spar - Chiyo-sama also had him reading up on various subjects and topics.

Though the dark circles over Sabaku no Gaara's eyes never really went away (it was proof of his status as a jinchuriki, analogous to the Uzumaki's whisker marks), they grew in size the more Gaara burned the midnight oil in reading.

When Jiraiya heard this, he laughed.

"No wonder Naruto here is your first real friend. Both of you are as oblivious as a pile of rocks," he told them.

Both jinchuriki quirked their eyebrows and prepared to launch their respective special techniques at what the Toad Sage said, but he was long gone. Probably off to sneak glances at the hot spring or something.

Still, aside from that little prickle and the spar, Gaara found Naruto to be a better guest than he first thought, with "etiquette lessons from Aunt Precia" as his explanation. After Naruto's master finished his spymaster work, the two Leaf-nin were off once more, and got a rather good send-off, in the form of a giant hand made of sand waving them goodbye.

Two weeks into his new responsibilities (_damn if that Sage wasn't perceptive as all hell, even I didn't expect this to happen_), and now this. Based on what little information the Toad Sage shared, what this Akatsuki were after was the One-Tailed Demon Tanuki sealed within him.

It was actually rather sad, the way he had to fall for an obvious trap - wounding and poisoning his brother Kankuro during a random patrol detail just had to be the icing on the cake.

Still, it was a decent enough consolation to sense the shock on the two Akatsuki members' faces as he pulled out moves with his sand they didn't expect.

After all, they were on his home field - his home turf. Goodness knows what would happen if he fell here, failing to defend it.

* * *

"One of these wretched Suna Bunshin just put a chink in Hiruko. It's just as I predicted."

"Predicted?"

"The lesser these Suna Bunshin are in number, the more their ability approaches that of the original."

"WHAT? What the hell do you mean, the smaller the numbers of these Bunshin get, the better they fight?"

**Boom.**

Another explosion shook the landscape, as Deidara the infamous missing-nin of Iwa threw a chunk of his explosive clay towards several of these annoying Suna Bunshin.

"POW!" he yelled, seeing the ball of fire that was his clay exploding. "Now THAT is an AWESOME explosion!"

"Not awesome enough," his partner said. "You only got one."

"That is so not awesome!" Deidara answered, grabbing another piece of his clay bird to imbue with chakra. "Didn't your little spy network say this guy had next-to-no taijutsu?"

"As far as I can tell, yes."

Deidara dodged a punch that meant to knock him out.

"Then explain to me how this guy is on my clay bird and throwing punches in my face!"

The armored partner of Deidara stood up and knocked the Suna Bunshin off the clay bird with a jumping tail strike from behind.

"Senpai, your six!" Deidara exclaimed, throwing a small piece of his clay downward.

The armored construct spun around, using his tail to send the clay piece flying towards the Suna Bunshin, hitting the target and detonating it.

**"AWESOME TEAMWORK!" **Deidara yelled with a whoop.

Akasuna no Sasori sighed. _This guy loves overusing that word, _he thought. _Anyway, with just five Suna Bunshin left, we can polish these clones off before we do what we've been ordered to do._

_And then, I can go to Suna and..._

"Senpai! This awesome mission needs our focus!" Deidara yelled out as he snapped his finger.

Another explosion rocked the landscape, and this time, the Suna Bunshin of Gaara were down to two.

"Ha ha! Didn't think you'd sense my awesome mine laying skills, did you?" Deidara said as he sped by in the clay bird, focusing on his left eye as he got a lock on where their target was. "Sasori-senpai! Last two!"

A diversionary hail of senbon from the mouth was enough for Deidara to swoop down and give the Suna Bunshin who blocked the frontal assault a tap on the shoulder from a hand that was suffused with explosive chakra.

"BANG BANG BABY, one more to go!" the blonde Akatsuki said as another Suna Bunshin exploded.

"Try zero," his partner said as the iron tail punched through the last Suna Bunshin.

"I thought they got better the lesser their numbers were," Deidara said as he met up with his senior.

"That doesn't mean jack squat, you know. There he is, let's go get him."

"Right you are, senpai."

But as they closed the distance, something was odd.

The patrol they had ambushed and the kunoichi who came with their target... all of them were gone.

All except Gaara.

He stood there in his usual folded-arm stance and gave the two missing-nin a rather dismissive glare as he said something.

"If you're going to try and go at my village and my people to get to me..."

_Shukaku... it's time for us to do THAT._

_**That?**_

_You forgot it again? Oh well. Our usual techniques won't work against them - so let's combine._

_**Great idea! All right, let's do it! I wanna see these bozos down for the count!**_

His glare instantly turned murderous, and his voice sounded vaguely demonic as golden chakra began flaring about him.

"...you've got another thing coming."

He unfolded his arms put up his hands in the necessary seals.

"Kinjutsu: Daisetsuzan Oroshi."

Pandemonium erupted around the two Akatsuki members.

* * *

They met at the usual cafe.

"Are they on the move?"

"Yes, they're on the move already."

"What have you got so far?"

"Well, I've detected three Device users here in Konoha. I've also detected a field of an unknown energy type surrounding this town. I just need to 'ride alongside it' so that I can use Dimensional Prison. But that's not the bad news."

"What's the bad news?"

"A significant percentage of the people here - ninja - have exhibited a degree of resistance to the technique. If I use it, only the civilians will be affected... we'll see a lot of trouble on our hands pretty soon."

"That's why I'm here to back you up," the purple-haired young woman said. "Our task is to hold the barrier until we make a positive ID. Hopefully we can subdue and apprehend our targets quickly."

"Do we move now?"

"Not until the order comes to bring up the periphery. And be careful, we could be monitored and not know it."

"You go tell Vita, I'll go tell Erio."

The trio nodded as they left the cafe and went their separate ways.

At the cafe across the street, one Nara Shikamaru was having a cup of coffee.

"...and then my brother just has to send me here to make sure our genin don't... are you listening to me?" an irate female voice asked.

"Ssh..." the Konoha special-jonin said. "Something interesting is afoot."

"Interesting? What's more interesting than the date you're in right now?"

"Date? This isn't a date. Not unless..."

"Oh, forgive me for being your 'damsel in distress', sir, didn't think you were so archaic in your thinking..."

"Temari, you're interrupting my line of thought," he said as he took a sip. "I hope I'm wrong... but based on their lip movements and their posture... I think Konoha may be infiltrated."

"Infil-" Temari tried to exclaim, but the Konoha-nin made sure she wouldn't blow their cover by quickly kissing her.

"Sorry," Shikamaru said. "As I was saying, one of the girls - the one with purple hair... she reminds me of that one-eyed genin Alicia teamed up with some time back... Temari?"

_Oh crap._

"Don't be..." the emissary from Sunagakure answered in her sultriest tone of voice.

_Oh crap! How will I get this info to the Hokage quickly?_

_

* * *

_

"Cover me while I seal Hiruko up." _Damn, if Hiruko got nailed the force of that technique dead-on, I wouldn't have anything to seal up._

"All right!" Deidara answered, doing a flyby on an absolutely gigantic Suna Bunshin with his clay bird while he peppered the huge clone with explosives to distract it.

"Seal's done. Pick me up, I've got a plan."

"Cool!" Deidara said as he swooped down and picked his partner up, narrowly avoiding another tidal wave of sand.

"I have some sleeping gas here in liquid form," Sasori said, unsealing a small storage scroll containing a few vials of liquid.

Deidara smiled. "The good-old pop-and-chop?"

"Exactly."

"Awesome."

Sighing in exasperation at his junior's choice of catch phrase, Akasuna no Sasori jumped off the bird when Deidara went low, the Iwa missing-nin molding several balls of explosive clay as he flew.

It was another near miss as the giant sand construct swung at the bird.

"You know, the bigger you are, the slower you get!" Deidara shouted. "Eat this!"

Another explosion, and while the construct quickly covered up the crater with even more compacted sand, the short window of time was all Deidara needed - to see where the jinchuriki was hiding inside that giant Suna Bunshin.

_Now for the final play... but not now, _the Iwa missing-nin thought as a giant palm of sand pointed towards him, and a gust of air bullets shot from them. As the shots sped towards him, Deidara held on to his mount tightly as he had his clay bird do a barrel roll.

"What you got, man, what you got?" he asked as he dodged; and the Ichibi jinchuriki obliged him by firing a larger volume of air bullets.

"Oh no, you did not fire that air bullet shit at me!" he exclaimed, doing a fancy aerial maneuver with his clay bird.

A large concussive wave slowed down the clay bird, and Deidara had to stand to make sure their target wouldn't shoot at the bird... and shoot the giant Suna Bunshin did, firing a large flurry of air bullets. The Iwa-nin did a fancy backward bend, which made the air bullets miss Deidara by inches, but rendered his Akatsuki cloak a tattered mess.

"Why you... that was my most awesome Akatsuki cloak ever..." the blonde said as he ambled up on his clay bird, on the move again and itching for a chance to counterattack.

Contrary to popular belief, Deidara's obsession with explosives and explosions did not stem from his hobby of sculpture nor his belief that the best art was ephemeral - a view that often got him into loggerheads with his senior partner Sasori.

It stemmed from his looks.

The real thing that had driven Deidara to madness was that back during his days at the Ninja Academy, he overheard people saying that "the number one beauty in Iwagakure's Ninja Academy is really a guy", wounding his self-esteem and his gender identity greatly, as he saw himself as a man. It didn't help at all that the Iwagakure Ninja Academy's uniform was unisex, too.

This ended up turning him towards manlier pursuits - though it didn't help his reputation any, it did restore a bit of his self-worth.

Then came the Chunin Exams there, and everyone then found out of his favorite hobby - sculpture, a decidedly feminine way of expressing oneself.

Never mind that the anonymous sculptor who made the exquisitely-detailed sculptures of naked kunoichi lining the Tsuchikage's halls was Deidara, as soon as everyone else heard the news, Deidara's reputation in Iwagakure was permanently and irrevocably shot.

And erupt his madness did, by focusing him enough to acquire the Exploding Clay techniques. When the jig was up and ANBU was after him, the first use of his newly-acquired technique served to bridge a gap between his madness and reason.

**REAL MEN LOVE EXPLOSIONS.**

**EXPLOSIONS ARE AWESOME!**

Everyone in Iwagakure shuddered as the maniacal laugh that echoed just like the explosions that blazed his trail away from Iwa filled the air.

And now, HIS CLOAK WAS SHREDDED!

**"I HAVEN'T EVEN PAID FOR THAT AWESOME COAT! I'M GONNA GET YOUR ASS GOOD!"** he roared, his temper finally getting the best of him as he molded a basketball-sized sphere of clay. "Now take this!"

He hurled it at the construct's head, where it stuck, the sand beginning to flow to avoid injuring the jinchuriki within.

"The awesomeness of my art!"

Deidara clapped his hands together before holding his arms apart, and then, he clenched his fists.

**"ART IS A BANG!"**

A massive explosion rocked the desert just outside Sunagakure.

* * *

Two figures were flying towards the area where a large energy reaction resembling a surge of mana in an S-Rank spell had tripped their alarm.

As they sped towards the location, they stopped short as a shockwave blew past them, forcing them to resort to using Protection.

"Did you feel that explosion?" the blonde asked the brunette after the shockwave had passed, who nodded.

"Stars 1, Lightning 1, this is Eden Prime. Report."

"We're both here and a-OK."

"Glad to hear. Continue on your objective."

"Roger. Command, ETA to target location?"

"T minus ten seconds. Be on your guard. Devices out."

"Roger that."

"Raising Heart, please!"

"Let's go, Bardiche."

_**"Standby, ready."**_

_**"Get set."**_

_**

* * *

**_

"Ha ha ha! That's what you GET!" a scorched, tattered, but otherwise unhurt Deidara said as he stomped on over to where the sleeping Gaara was. That was some gambit, putting the sleeping gas inside the second stage of a two-phase bomb.

Thankfully, it paid off, and by exhausting a significant amount of Deidara's chakra from all that bomb-making, plus Sasori's Hiruko in need of repair, the Ichibi no Shukaku's carrier was thus subdued.

"Look at you now! Sleeping like a baby! Who's the man, huh? Who's the man? Wait until I get more clay! I'LL LINE ALL OF YOUR BIJUU FRIENDS UP, RIGHT BESIDE YOU!"

True to form, Sasori showed up just as his junior was about to kick his frustrations on his sleeping opponent.

"Strange - if he's sleeping, the Shukaku should be rampaging right now," the redhead said, stopping Deidara's attempt to vent out his frustration in its tracks.

"Maybe you slipped in a few chakra inhibitors with the sleeping gas, senpai?" Deidara asked, his temper cooling as his mind started racing. "Or a chakra containment seal?"

"Didn't do either of them... maybe he's exhausted from using so much chakra, the bijuu can't come out even if it wanted to," Sasori said. "Nevertheless, let us get him back to base so we can get the Ichibi out. Too bad, kid..." he added, sparing a glance at the jinchuriki of the Shukaku, "the ceremony will end up killing you."

"Or he could be faking sleeping, you know? Anyway," Deidara said, "that was great, wasn't it?"

"One of your inspired ideas, I'll have to admit," Sasori answered.

"Thanks. You know the word for what I just pulled off is?"

Sasori rolled his eyes. "No, I won't answer any of your childish questions. Seriously, your torrid love affair with that word has been getting on my nerves ever since Leader-sama paired you up with me."

Deidara's eyes were suddenly several sizes larger, and started to water.

"Please? Just because I managed to counter that big technique?" he asked, putting on the trademarked Koinu-me no Jutsu.

Sasori sighed. _Drat. Defeated by a child's genjutsu._ "Fine, fine. Your technique was awesome."

"Bingo!" Deidara said, switching gears instantly as he smiled widely, giving his senior a thumbs-up.

An explosion nearby startled both Akatsuki.

"Will you stop it with the explosions already?" Sasori asked annoyedly.

"That wasn't me! If that's backup, then let's get the jinchuriki outta here so we can get the job done!"

"I don't think so," a girl's voice echoed from somewhere above the two Akatsuki. "What you're planning to do is kidnapping."

"We heard enough. And on our authority as Enforcers of the TSAB..."

Deidara looked up to see two young women hovering in the skies above, each of them brandishing some sort of bejeweled staff - a redhead and a blonde. Both blonde and redhead wore twin ponytails and a bizarre mix of a combat outfit and an elaborate dress.

_**"Drive Ignition."**_

_**"Scythe Form."**_

_Talking staves. As if this could go any - holy crap, did the blonde girl's staff suddenly turn into a scythe?_

"...you two are under arrest."

Deidara swallowed a lump that had suddenly appeared in his throat while Sasori sighed.

And to think this day had gone so well...

...wishful thinking indeed.

Deidara's hand-mouths were at the ready while Sasori already had twenty of his puppets unsealed and buried by a thin layer of sand, ready to be revealed at a moment's notice.

Both men had the same thought.

_Being in Akatsuki sucks ass right now._

_

* * *

_

"That's weird."

"What's weird, Shino?"

It was sometime after a lunch at Ichiraku's Ramen, and Team 8 (who had found out that their sensei was due back anytime tomorrow after her mission) was taking a walk through the Konoha marketplace, easing their kunoichi teammate off her agoraphobia.

Hyuuga Hinata had been the furthest away from home since the recent incident, and after a few sessions with one Yamanaka Inoichi (a.k.a. the best ninja shrink in Fire Country), she finally understood.

She couldn't handle her fears alone as well as when she had someone to understand this feeling that had virtually rendered her useless as a kunoichi, to be there with her each step of the way as she fought the fear that had lodged itself in her heart and mind, to encourage her should she lose her will to keep going, and to share in her triumph over her phobia and other personality quirks that had become problems over time.

Aburame Shino had to admit that the sight of Hinata clutching Naruto's arm looked very cute, and the team was getting more than their rightful share of attention as they slowly made their way from Ichiraku's Ramen, through the Konoha marketplace, all the way to the Hokage Tower to maybe get a D-Rank. Their white-eyed teammate threw curious glances at everything, while Shino and Naruto thought that this open display of paranoia didn't suit Hinata.

Every ninja was paranoid - you had to come up with the strangest and most eccentric of hobbies to get by. Naruto cultivated plants, played pranks, and sometimes did copy editing on Jiraiya's work; Shino watched giant robot anime in his room and periodically went online anonymously to discuss the merits and faults of the things he watched with other anonymous civilians and/or ninja; Guy-sensei and Rock Lee waxed incessant about the Power of Youth (and as of recently, Dragon Kicking people's asses to the Milky Way); Kakashi-sensei read porn in public; Anko-san - let's not get into too much detail about her, suffice it to say that she loved sex and violence in equal amounts, usually when in tandem; and Hinata, well...

...Yamanaka-san's diagnosis was that she lacked an eccentric enough hobby or personality quirk - and no, her pressing flowers and near-pathological shyness did not count. Deep inside though, he knew that the girl's psyche was somehow already damaged, and her coping mechanism was to hold onto someone else whose personality complemented hers - someone like either Alicia or Naruto, for instance.

When given this diagnosis, Hinata's father would have objected rather vehemently, but he still thought that it could have been an even worse emotional dependency her daughter would end up having. Besides, she could have done worse, and being somehow attached to Alicia and/or Naruto was fine, too.

But the strange signals the kikaichu had given Shino made him stop for awhile, thinking.

"Naruto," he said as he walked over to his teammates. "my kikaichu are acting rather strangely."

"Strange how?" Hinata asked.

"You know how I and my clansmen tag travelers here with our kikaichu as a precaution, right?" When his teammates nodded, Shino continued. "There are some people my Kikaichu find rather bland-tasting."

"Bland-tasting?"

"I had them take a microscopic bite out of the people they found strange. Not only did they taste bland... the impression my kikaichu give me is that they don't know whether what they bit into was actually human."

Naruto's eyes widened as Hinata froze.

Shino shook his head. "Still, I don't think this is too much of a deal yet, but this next one might."

"There's still more?"

Shino nodded. "Two of the people who traveled here on a merchant caravan... smells and tastes like those two part-mechanical teammates your oneechan once had. You know, those genin girls from Iwagakure."

"Iwagakure my foot," Naruto muttered. While he did promise not to tell anyone where Cinque-san and Sein-san actually came from, what he got in exchange was a lot of valuable information that basically corroborated the transmission he got from the snake Sannin: one Time-Space Administration Bureau had their world on their watchlist, and the two girls would be going back to their leader as soon as his Aunt Precia would get a long-duration mission. The girls would be listed MIA and return where they came from (because their true mission had been finished), and the Testarossa mother and daughter would continue where they left off.

"And that's not the best part."

"It's not?" Hinata asked.

"It's either the orange-haired girl or the blue-haired one. On my ten-thirty."

Team 8 walked onward towards Hokage Tower, playing demurely despite the fact that they had spotted two suspected infiltrators on their tail.

Meanwhile, one Nakajima Subaru was trying to hide her shaking, and failing miserably. The girl with white eyes did... something... briefly, and she felt uncomfortably open under the girl's gaze until their eyes broke contact.

"Subaru, what happened?" her partner said.

"She saw me. She saw me. She saw my components. We're dead," Subaru whispered rapidly.

"Damn it!" Teana whispered back. "This was a bad idea. Covert ops in a ninja village. I'm gonna give command a ring."

_This is Stars 4. Stars 3 and I may have been compromised. Cover may be blown. I repeat, cover may be blown._

_Be on your guard. As long as you don't actually do something, they'll probably pull more people to run surveillance on you. At any rate, be ready to deploy your Barrier Jackets and Devices when the right moment comes. Do not attempt to attack or antagonize anyone, over._

_Acknowledged._

"Subaru," Teana said. "We're going back to the meeting point. Do you want to go back up?"

"Gonna... gonna see this through, Tea... Nanoha would..." Subaru replied, "she would have gone forward."

"All right," she said. "Let's take a moment to get you back together, all right?"

Subaru nodded as they slowly made their way back to the cafe that had become their impromptu meeting point.

* * *

"Shikamaru! So, you actually hooked up with Ms. Sabaku over there! You sly dog, you!"

"How troublesome of you to point that out," Shikamaru told his fellow Konoha Ninja Academy Sentai member as Team 8 met up with Shikamaru and Temari en route to the Hokage Tower.

Temari and Hinata immediately went down to girl talk as the two Konoha-nin began to chat while Shino looked around, whistling a tune.

"Anyway, what's up? So I heard you were working with Temari-san here on this year's Chunin Exams," Naruto began, doing the hand signs for _'Konoha infiltrated by unknown party'_.

"A troublesome business indeed," the lazy special jonin replied as his hands answered _'Unknown if party is composed of ninja. I've detected five members of the infiltrating team so far'_.

"Judging by the look on Temari's face, you must have gone on a date before going to the Tower!"

_'Add two to that. Confirmed seven people, maybe more. Meeting point is at a cafe. Should we ask the Hokage for ANBU?'_

"Date? With that troublesome woman?"

_'Nothing untoward has happened yet so far, and I've detected them several days ago. Staggered insertion. Ninja or not, these guys are pros.'_

Naruto raised the pinkie on one of his hands. "Once you get this, you'll know it's worth all the trouble."

_'Shino got confirmation. Two of them have mechanical components like Cinque and Sein.'_

"You pervert."

_'That complicates things.'_

"I'm a super pervert's apprentice, how do you think I would have turned out?"

_'What do we do?'_

"You would have ended up being a bigger pain in the rear."

_'We maintain a quiet surveillance. Asuma-sensei's in town. You could probably get Anko-san to sub for Kurenai-sensei until her return. Team 7's here, too; as is Team Konohamaru.'_

"You don't know the half of it. So, heard Team 10's doing well. Chouji's engaged. Ino..."

_'What if it's just nothing?'_

"...unless you were living under a rock for the past several- oh wait, you were on a training trip! How'd you know that Ino and that girly Momochi dude are engaged, too?"

_'Then we'll just watch them a bit until this all boils over. No one would just walk into Konoha and just pick a fight out of the blue.'_

"I actually asked Haku-chan, and yes, he's gonna be going on the omiai."

_'So you're going to Hayate-sensei and then Asuma-sensei?'_

Shikamaru nodded. "That makes sense, after all."

"I'll go catch up with Kiba and then Mr. Uchiha. Catch you later, Shika," Naruto said as Team 8 and the unlikely couple went their separate ways.

All the while, he was subtly making hand signs to Shino.

_'We need to get to where Team 7 is. They're most likely at the old bridge near the Ninja Academy; another probable place is the Yamanaka flower shop; same building where Inoichi-san holds his practice.'_

_'All right. Hinata, are you still okay?'_

Hinata nodded. Somehow, due to what she read from Naruto and Shikamaru's little conversation, she managed to put the neurotic girl in her place and bring the kunoichi she was to the forefront, submerging her fears for the moment. A group of people who infiltrated Konoha looked like big trouble - and if they had the same intentions as that incident involving her, she would do everything to make sure it would not come to pass - the saying went, "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me".

_'I'll be fine. Don't worry about me, let's go to Team 7.'_

Naruto nodded after seeing the resolve from the eyes of his kunoichi teammate, and Team 8 thus changed their route to make sure they'd contact Team 7 and inform them of this development.

Meanwhile, within his mindscape, Lass - the leader of the Silver Cross Assassins' Guild - felt a flash of memory as he felt the mana signature wash over his wielder.

"This feels familiar. Fox, our boy is still being watched."

"All right. I'll be ready to go into action at a moment's notice."

"I'll take care of that. You stay within the summoning matrices and be ready to go into Unison."

"But we've never actually done it in combat conditions! The boy could get fried!"

"He's already released two tails worth of chakra that time he fought with Sieghart. Just release enough for his initial form and we'll work it from there."

"Fair enough. Lass..." the Unison Device said, "what's wrong?"

"Oh, fuck me sideways..." Lass whispered. "Of all the Velkan knights to run into, we have to run into the Wolkenritter..."

"That doesn't look good."

"Actually, it's not a bad thing. It's the worst thing."

"Alert level red?"

Lass grimly nodded, and the two Devices began getting ready for the battle that would inevitably follow.

* * *

"I can't get close enough for a decent shot!" Deidara shouted as he had his clay bird do steadily crazier and crazier aerial maneuvers just to avoid that yellow energy scythe this blonde woman seemed to swing at him with speed, power, and grace. "You'll have to get at the Ichibi on your own!"

"I don't think so," Akasuna no Sasori answered as another one of his ten puppets got shot down by these strange orbs of pink energy that were swirling around the white-clad brunette. He planned on using his trump card to overwhelm this strange young woman, but when he saw the last of the puppets he summoned with his Akahigi: Nijukki no Soen was... obliterated when the pink orbs crashed through them without even losing one scrap of momentum, he mentally threw that plan right out the figurative window.

_Seriously, this girl is both a literal and figurative bombshell, but this isn't the time to be ogling, _he thought. Nor did ogling her have any point, as Sasori had long since sacrificed a large percentage of his humanity in the pursuit of his craft - the timelessness and permanence of the arts.

By all rights, he should have been dead or his mind long since gone - but his devotion to something beautiful that outlasted everything that had happened in his life - kept even the smallest spark of humanity alive inside his synthetic body.

As he weaved through the sand dunes, piecing his destroyed puppets together and turning them into makeshift targets of his puppetry variation of the Kawarimi no Jutsu, he carefully analyzed the patterns of attack his new opponent used.

The longer this went, the more Sasori was glad that he didn't end up using his other other trump card - it wouldn't be of any use against this young woman, as she would either fly out of range and attack, or...

Or...

Sasori hit upon an idea as he carefully maneuvered to a spot in the desert where he felt a large amount of combat puppets lay dormant and unused, their previous masters dead where they lay, casualties of Ninja World Wars past... some at the hand of Sasori himself.

He chuckled. _What little use you made in life will be magnified in death. Your art will remain forever._

His planning on how to use the puppets to hide his senbon-based poison attack on the woman stopped short, as a massive explosion that Sasori knew was his partner's clay bird going up in smoke shook the landscape.

_**Shit.**_

_Deidara's down._

_If he's out, then I'm gonna be at a clear disadvantage against these two unknowns._

He flashed forward again, aiming to salvage what had been left of this disaster of a mission.

* * *

Deidara couldn't mold his clay fast enough to make something that would break his fall.

The clay bird had taken a massive hit from what he heard was a "Photon Lancer: Full Autofire" from the black-and-white talking staff the black-and-white-clad young woman wielded - and it was just a matter of time before one of those glowing yellow kunai-like projectiles made contact with the chakra center Deidara used to control his bird...

...and then it exploded.

_That was so awesome if I wasn't the one who'd end up screwed by it, _he thought as he fell. _Damn, this is the worst day ever. First, our diversionary attack gets snuffed out by our target, and now our target ends up saved by two very cute girls with enough firepower to shoot down the best of our - whoa, awesome! I can see that girl's butt!_

The Iwa missing-nin was seconds away from hitting the sand when a puppet burst from the sandy depths and leaped forward, catching him and going into a roll upon landing, minimizing the impact.

**"SASORI! YOU JUST MESSED UP MY AWESOME HAIR-DO!" **he yelled, immediately ignoring the more important fact that he had been saved by his senior from a rather humiliating death by gravity as slowly got up, brushing the sand off him.

"Damn it, how am I gonna wash all this sand... from... my... hair...?" he asked, hesitating as he could see the very sharp point of the energy scythe curved towards his neck, ready to slice his head off if he so much as blinked wrong.

"Do not attempt to resist."

"This is so not awesome," Deidara muttered, and he saw the yellow blade of light edge ever-so-closer to his throat.

Sasori stopped in his tracks a short distance away. _Fuck it! _he told himself. _These women are fast; didn't even sense her move from the sky down, and approach Deidara from behind!_

Closing his eyes, he carefully readied his chakra strings and the little surprise he left for anyone who'd be dumb enough to think that he didn't keep enough tricks under his sleeves.

Or within his arm, as the case may be, as with a loud cry of **"GET DOWN!"**, Akasuna no Sasori pointed his right arm at the two blondes, his puppet hand hinging off at the wrist to reveal the metal barrel of a medium-calibre cannon... and then he fired.

The portable Goukakyu no Jutsu firestorm cannon (a very powerful weapon often equipped on the top-of-the-line combat puppets of Sunagakure) belched its explosive payload towards the blonde girl, and at the same time Sasori's left hand was going into a seal sequence.

He had to time it just right... and then, the fireball hit, erupting into a decent-sized explosion.

By the time the girl had slashed Deidara's head off, she ended up only decapitating a wooden puppet.

"Nanoha! They're going after the redhead!" the blonde yelled as she rushed towards her combat partner.

Before Takamachi Nanoha could respond, more puppets rose from the sands, each of them bearing the symbol of the black scorpion Sasori placed to enhance his control over them.

"Akahigi: Gojukki no Soen." Sasori declared as the puppets took up arms and charged.

"More of these things... It won't count," the white-clad brunette answered, pointing the staff at the closest cluster of combat puppets about to attack them.

As if the day could not even get any worse, a familiar pink circle of light blazed to life under the brunette's feet, a familiar sign to the missing-nin from Suna.

Sasori froze.

_THIS WAS THE VERY SAME UNKNOWN JUTSU USED BY OROCHIMARU TO DEFEAT HIM._

"Bird. **Now,**" Sasori, upon seeing the strange but familiar circle, told his partner, who nodded and used the last of his clay to fashion a bird for their quick and clean escape.

The last thing the two Akatsuki could remember was a pink ball of light being charged by the girl's talking staff and a yell of **"DIVINE... BUSTER...!"** before everything around them exploded.

* * *

"Threat neutralized," Nanoha said just as her trademark technique wound down, the cooling vents on Raising Heart letting off steam.

"Strange, Nanoha. Shouldn't you be asking them about their business before you started shooting?" Fate T. Harlaown asked.

"The redhead used some sort of substitution, the fireball as a distraction so he could get his partner away," Nanoha replied. "Their moves appear similar to the ones Onii-chan and Onee-chan use back home... but the puppetry..."

"Let's muse on that later. How is the victim?"

_**"Diagnostic finished - he is uninjured, but asleep."**_

"Thank you, Raising Heart."

_**"All right, my master."**_

Minutes after the diagnosis (during which Admiral Harlaown said that they should take the kidnapping victim to a safe location), the redheaded teen slowly stirred, his eyes opening.

"...what happened?" Sabaku no Gaara asked, the first thing his eyes saw were the faces of two young women. The brunette he could not identify, but there was something about the other one's blonde hair and red eyes that was very familiar to him... he just could not place it at the moment.

"Are you all right?" the brunette asked as the redhead slowly sat himself up.

"The Akatsuki?"

"We drove them away. Akatsuki? Was that the name of the two people who were going to kidnap you?" the brunette asked.

Gaara nodded.

"We've been sent to help out. My name's Nanoha, this is my partner Fate. What's yours?"

"Sabaku... no Gaara... the Godaime... Kazekage."

* * *

Somewhere in the skies above the Elemental Countries, one Deidara was cackling madly.

**"DID YOU SEE THAT? THAT BIG-ASS BEAM? FORTY-SEVEN COMBAT PUPPETS, VAPORIZED IN ONE FREAKING SHOT! THAT WAS FUCKING AWESOME! ESPECIALLY THE EXPLOSIONS!"**

"Deidara, everyone already knows that if you would make an explosion your girlfriend, you would."

"Of course!" the Iwa-nin answered, catching himself as he replayed the insult. "Hey..."

A voice in their heads echoed.

_"Do you have the Ichibi?"_

_"Negative, Leader-sama... we don't."_

_"What about the secondary objective?"_

_"That... we did manage to get."_

_"Excellent. Do not consider this mission a failure. The secondary objective carries far more importance than the mere summoning ritual. We expect to see you back in headquarters."_

_"Acknowledged, Leader-sama," _both Akatsuki replied.

As the two riders on the clay bird sped towards the horizon, Deidara was curious.

"Weren't we supposed to be chewed out by eye-boy? We didn't catch the jinchuriki. And I fail to see how one small gem can be more important than the Ichibi no Shukaku..."

"Judging by what Leader-sama said?" his partner answered. "I think this is what they're really after."

Akasuna no Sasori held in his hands a compact octahedral that looked a lot more like a jewel, and wondered about the how and the why as they made their trip back to the Akatsuki lair.

* * *

"So what you're saying is that you're the leader of a ninja village?"

"Yes."

"And that until recently, you had had some trouble because you were subjected to a sealing technique?"

"Something along those lines, yes."

"Is that the reason this... 'Akatsuki' is after you?"

"Yes."

"You're not much of a talker," Nanoha commented.

"I do much of the talking for him," another voice replied, startling the two young women. "Sorry about that. I'm Shukaku, the tailed beast sealed within Gaara."

"Aren't you supposed to be several hundred feet tall?"

The miniature tanuki head made of sand chuckled. "I take this form nearly all the time. Less of a drain on Gaara-san's chakra, you see."

The conversation continued until a grateful Sunagakure welcomed their Kage home, fearing the worst. The gate guards looked upon the two women guarding their Kazekage's flanks, but he waved them down easily. As soon as the welcome had worn off (thanks given to the two strangers who stepped in), Gaara immediately took to Sunagakure's hospital.

"Kankuro," he said as he entered his older brother's room. The puppet master of Suna was strung up on several casts, but was otherwise fine - his brother's Suna Bunshin distraction had given their medic Matsuri-chan enough time to extract the poison off him.

Healing those broken bones would take a bit longer, but the Suna-nin would pull through.

"So you beat those Akatsuki jerks, huh?" Kankuro asked. "Good for you."

"I actually didn't," the Kazekage replied, unfolding his arms before reaching for the door handle. "I had help."

He opened the door, and the two young women who saved him stepped in.

Kankuro's breath caught in his throat, and Gaara sensed his older brother's surprise.

"Wait a minute. Isn't she supposed to be back in Konoha?" Kankuro said with some confusion.

"Who?" Nanoha asked.

Now Gaara was well and truly confused. "What are you talking about, brother?" he asked. "This young woman's name is Fate T. Harlaown. The one in white is Takamachi Nanoha. And they were the ones who drove the Akatsuki off when I was down."

"This is Kankuro, my older brother, and likewise uses puppets as his ninja specialty - like our last opponent."

"Pleased to meet you, Nanoha-san, Fate-san," Kankuro said. "I would bow, but as you can see... I'm not exactly in the best of shape to do that."

"It is not a problem, Kankuro-kun," Nanoha said. "What do you mean, 'supposed to be back in Konoha' when you looked at my partner?"

"This is the first time I've seen you, Kankuro-san," the blonde replied.

A bewildered Gaara looked over to his brother. "Explain."

"Could you put up your hair in a ponytail, please?" the bandaged puppeteer asked. "I mistook you for someone else, you see."

"Someone else?" Fate asked as she obliged, holding one hand to her hair in a makeshift ponytail.

"No wonder she's familiar," Kankuro said, seeing Fate in a ponytail. "She's a a dead ringer for that jonin from Leaf. What was her name again?"

Fate paled.

"I remember you had this massive crush on her back in the Chunin Exams three years ago," Gaara replied, a thin smile coming to his lips. "Her name was Alicia. Alicia Testarossa."

Nanoha's eyes went wide, while Fate's let her hair down again, her shaking hands the only proof of the tumultuous feelings washing over her.

"And I heard her mother is teaching at the Ninja Academy, too," Kankuro added. "What's wrong with you two?"

Gaara sensed the change in demeanor in the blonde the moment he dropped the Konoha jonin's name, and in the brunette when Kankuro said something about Alicia's mother.

"...excuse us," Fate barely managed to whisper. "We have to be going."

"...and not give us a chance to properly thank you for saving me?" Gaara asked, likewise lowering his voice.

"We'd love to stick around, Kazekage-sama," Nanoha said, "but the stakes just went way up... This is one very dangerous piece of unfinished business Fate-san and I have to personally see to."

The Godaime Kazekage was in disbelief at the eyes of these two women - the sparkles in their eyes had gone, replaced with a look of determination. He could also feel the unrestrained killer intent flowing through both of them as they bowed to the Kazekage before leaving the hospital room.

"Wait," Gaara said. "Before you go, their identities might be of someone else. Take this Village's Bingo Book, at the very least. I'll have Baki-sensei hand it over to you at the village gates."

Only Nanoha bowed again before the two TSAB mages left, leaving a very confused Gaara and Kankuro in their wake.

* * *

_**"This is a Class SS alert. Limiters have been removed for all members of Mobile Assault Force 6."**_

_About goddamn time, _Vita muttered to herself.

_**"We have visual confirmation: S-rank criminal Precia Testarossa is alive and in the employ of the Village Hidden in the Leaves."**_

_**"All available inserted personnel, evacuate the premises. Shield 1, 2 and 3, ready the periphery casting. Stars 1 and 2 plus Lightning 1 and 2 will carry out the apprehension. Stars 3 and 4 plus Lightning 3, 4 and 5, back up Shield Team. Evacuate quietly, but be prepared for a fight, just in case. Consider every Konoha-nin a potential hostile. This is now an SS-rank emergency."**_

_**"Good luck."**_

_**"Admiral Chrono Harlaown out."**_

_**

* * *

**_

Uzumaki Naruto was the first to sense that massive spike of energy from close by.

It was due to his Device that he was able to feel it, as it wasn't actually chakra.

_The infiltrators have stepped up their game, _he told himself. _But judging from the presence, they're going to head to..._

_...the Ninja Academy._

_Damn it!_

Naruto immediately signaled to his teammates.

_'Get the Hokage. They're targeting the Ninja Academy.'_

Shino's eyebrows were visible through his glasses.

_'The surveillance team seems to be leaving the village in pairs. They must be scouts.'_

Naruto nodded.

_'They're gonna send the big guns in, and I think one or two of them are within the Village premises now. I had Mr. Uchiha and his team tail one of them, I think we can probably...'_

Naruto's signing was cut short as he saw a brown blur of motion rushing towards him ending in a loud clang.

The pink-haired woman he had seen earlier in the day had swung an ornate sword towards him, and he barely blocked it with his Device.

_Scimitar Form? I wasn't..._

_**We were ready. Get to a vacant training ground.**_

"Shino! Hinata! Get to the Hokage!" Naruto yelled as he latched onto the sword with his chains, flinging it and the swordswoman some distance away.

Naruto's two teammates had wanted to help, but he would not have any part of it.

"These guys probably use the same techniques Alicia and I do, so they're gonna go after me first. I'll be the bait, while you go get the Hokage and the ANBU. And warn Alicia-oneechan, too!"

"What about you?"

"I'll be fine, I've gotten into worse scrapes than this. Now go!" he yelled, Team 8 retreating as the Konoha marketplace erupted into pandemonium.

The woman tried to go after Team 8, but Naruto put himself in between them. _How near are we to a Training Ground? _Naruto thought-asked his Device.

_**Training Ground 2 is two clicks to your north. Press your attack and you'll end up there, **_Lass answered.

_Thanks, Lass._

The swordswoman again rushed in to attack, avoiding the chain and managing to get into Naruto's defenses, only for what she thought to be Naruto to erupt in a cloud of smoke and a gust of wind that momentarily disoriented her.

**"RASENGAN!"**

The blonde boy came rushing in from a completely different direction, a swirling ball of energy in his hand. _Too late to dodge, _Signum thought as she loaded a cartridge into Laevateinn.

_**"PANZERGEIST."**_

A crash echoed through the Konoha marketplace as the Yondaime Hokage's trademark technique hit straight and true, causing the assailant to go flying into where Naruto calculated Training Ground 2 would be.

_Nothing but a clearing, few trees, and low-growing grass._

_Perfect._

Upon impact, Naruto had followed quickly, and was glad to see that his computation paid off - his opponent crashing into the middle of the Training Ground as he quickly landed onto the grass.

Too bad his opponent emerged unscathed from the explosion, this time wearing an outfit meant for battle: a fuschia armored bustier, a light pink jacket and armored gauntlets on top - and a fuchsia-and-pink skirt with metal-reinforced black shoes on the bottom.

_**"Knight Armor."**_

_**"Guten Morgen, Levantine. Knight Armor."**_

Naruto blinked his assent, and in a flash of light, he donned his own Knight Armor - the sky-blue trench coat he found out was based on his father's own Hokage coat. Slowly, he reverted his Device into Dolchsform and eyed his opponent warily.

_**Shit. It's Signum.**_

_Signum?_

_**Save your questions, kid. Now you must fight... harder than you've ever fought before!**_

With a cry, the two knights met in a shower of sparks as Levantine clashed with Reynard.

_**Uh-oh, **_Lass said as the two continued to trade blows. _**They're getting reinforcements... and by hacking into their communications, they're after Precia**_.

_Fuck._

_**Worry about your Aunt Precia later, this is a challenge that is a whole order of magnitude greater!**_

With surprising dexterity, the pink-haired swordswoman changed the angle of her slash, spinning into another pattern of attack that left Naruto on the defensive.

_Aunt Precia... I'll take care of you first then whoever you sent against her! _Naruto thought as he went back on the attack.

All of Konoha was in a state of ordered panic as civilian evacuation protocols were activated, ANBU was mobilized, and the Rookie 9 laid in wait for whoever else was involved with this recent attack on Konoha. Little did they know that this attack was the first shots fired in a conflict that would span several continents and put even the fabric of reality itself at risk...

...and at the same time, the Akatsuki stood silently, ready to begin their campaign of terror at a moment's notice. Meanwhile, the Eden hovered in orbit, the command staff sobered at the knowledge that one of the most dangerous mages in Mid-Childa was somehow still alive and working as a Konoha ninja.

Admiral Chrono Harlaown could only ask himself one question: _why just now?_

Chapter 4 - **END**

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**

**author's notes:**

I don't plan on telling you guys the joke Naruto sprung on Shino... not even on the forums. Figure it out on your own. It will be funnier that way. :p

Plenty of cookies to go around! Feel free to grab them. :)

Also, special cookies go to where I get Deidara's personality from. You'll get plenty of hints in his cameo in "Arcane Heart". I also modified his backstory to make him a lot more interesting - as well as integrating his clay-based techniques into a more coherent whole - no more "blow-myself-up" jutsu.

**Unique Jutsu:**

_Kinjutsu: Daisetsuzan Oroshi (Forbidden Technique: Wind Blowing Down Mt. Daisetsu)_ - Sabaku no Gaara fully synchronizes with the Shukaku, allowing him to use his sand to create a very large Suna Bunshin with Gaara within it. Requires a god-awful amount of sand to use, which is why Gaara carries storage scrolls filled with sand along with his gourd. (a/n: this was supposed to be named after one of Ibuki Suika's spell cards, but seeing as I don't have the romaji for them, I went with naming it after Getter-3's trademark technique.) This technique also massively increases the area of effect of Gaara's techniques. Unknown rank, only usable by jinchuriki.

_Koinu-me no Jutsu (Puppy Dog Eyes Technique)_: The user puts on a cute expression, enlarging the eyes to comical effect to persuade or enchant the target. E-rank.


	5. Stars, Lightning and Leaves, Part 1

_disclaimer:_ naruto = kishimoto; nanoha = seven arcs; grand chase = kog

Last chapter, Deidara used the word "awesome" sixteen times (in thought and in speech). I also foreshadowed Deidara's Michael Bay-like love of explosions, and it's unknown whether I was successful. The pseudonym he used in Fire Country when Tsunade cleaned him out with a royal flush was, if you translated it, Michael Bay. :p

And things now begin to get good as the Konoha teams try to get to the bottom of their latest invasion which - surprise, surprise - is actually an attempt to apprehend a notorious criminal who is also one of their ninja.

Much befriending on both sides will ensue until cooler heads prevail.

Besides, if everything was resolved by negotiation, the story would be markedly less awesome. (Oh dear. I'm becoming like Deidara. :p)

The Grand Chase universe is poised to become one of this story's key components; we just have to get the preliminary befriending out of the way first. And I don't plan for anything beyond Castle of Domination to come into play, which means the GC part of the saga ends at Thanatos, the God of Domination. Who knows, maybe a post-Twin Fates story will feature Archaemedia and Atum, we'll see.

Here's Chapter 5, and I think the battles will continue all the way to Chapter 7 or 8.

Speaking of which, has anyone ever noticed the unifying theme between the pre-chapter blurb? Anyone? Hello? *tumbleweeds and crickets*

Also, no one guessed the joke Naruto used on Shino? Anybody? Hello? *more tumbleweeds pass by*

Sigh...

Also, the story dividers have changed a bit - but only on fights with multiple fronts. When this is all sorted out, we'll be back to our regular lines as section breaks.

* * *

_Even if the future is locked or erased  
I won't end this prayer  
Because I want to convey my real feelings to you..._

* * *

_**Naruto: Twin Fates**_

**Chapter 5: Stars, Lightning and Leaves, Part 1**

**

* * *

**

Right now, the situation in the Village Hidden in the Leaves was one approaching bedlam as civilians were being ushered by Konoha ninja along the streets of Konohagakure. While there was a small degree of panic that was the klaxon alerts installed throughout the civilian sector blaring out their warning of enemy invasion, everything went like clockwork... so far. As soon as the sirens began wailing, ninja started to appear at from the civilian populace, voices amplified through some sort of chakra technique.

_"We are under attack. This is not a drill. Engaging emergency protocol #5. Please follow the nearest ninja escort of chunin rank or lower towards the emergency shelter nearest you. I repeat, this is not a drill."_

A slightly-built jonin oversaw the evacuation protocol being implemented, one of the first things the new leadership of Konoha enacted. The Fifth Hokage herself said that this was a new Konoha, and proof of this were small but significant changes to the village hierarchy.

Several notable things happened during the three years one Uzumaki Naruto took a certain training trip with the Toad Sage Jiraiya; first and foremost was the seamless transition of power from the civilian sector to the ninja. While certain merchant guilds still had the privilege to throw in their two ryo worth when Hokage-sama called in a Council meeting, the message was clear: Konoha was not going to take this foolhardy attempt to cross that certain line lightly.

_Or perhaps that was the point of everything that had happened? Some sort of master plan? _Kururugi Seiryuu thought as he assisted an old man towards the civilian shelters - but then he had a nearby genin take over as he felt a very similar feeling. _That's odd. It's something like a spacetime jutsu, the one Precia-san uses regularly... she called it "Flash Move"..._

He shrugged as he took to the rooftops to meet his old genin team - Ranmaru and the newly-married Mugi-chan - and he'd look into this. Perhaps there were more invaders incoming... but little did he know that at this time, two of these invaders were part of the civilians being led to safety.

They saw teams of genin moving here and there, ushering the civilians towards the designated evacuation areas under the watchful eyes of a chunin or two.

What the red-haired boy and pink-haired girl didn't know was that there was a raven-haired, pearl-eyed kunoichi about their age who had already spotted them...

"...this is Sword 4, target has been located. I repeat, target located," the girl muttered into what looked like a communication device as she continued doing her cover of ushering civilians to safety."

"Acknowledged. We'll move to intercept. Continue with evacuation protocols."

"Roger that, Sword Leader."

A loud crash nearby startled everyone, and Hyuuga Hanabi's eyebrows narrowed. _Yep, the first civilians to turn towards the explosion. There - the redhead and the pinkette. _"Genin-age civilian, boy has red hair. Girl has pink hair. I've got a positive ID here."

As she activated her Byakugan once more, flashes in the distance made her turn her head.

_Oh, snap._

By the time she swung her head back to the two rumored targets, they had already vanished.

_Oh, snap!_

"Sword 4 to Sword Leader, target has been lost. Byakugan has been activated. Some sort of time-space jutsu has been activated, estimated location, the abandoned Uchiha district. My suspicions are some sort of insertion."

"Sword 3 has already locked onto the two kids. Your ID checked out - we'll take it from here. "

"Roger that, Sword Leader. Any further orders?"

"Maintain evacuation protocols, Sword 4. Over and out."

_**Erio and Caro**_

"Where are we going, Erio?" one Caro ru Lushe asked as she ran alongside her companion, taking to the alleys between old and new buildings in Konohagakure's civilian sector.

"If we get lumped in with the civilians, we'll get found out, don't you remember?" Erio Mondial, Caro's red-haired partner, replied without even looking back as his head kept bobbed this way and that, looking around for anything out of the ordinary that might be an enemy ninja.

Their past few days went by easily enough, with Caro even worming her way into the heart of one of the Academy instructors - Erio remembered the teacher well enough based on the scar across his nose.

The two Forwards then came up with a plan for Caro to go to the Ninja Academy as a ploy to get as much information as they could - she was apprehensive at first, of course, but gradually warmed up to the idea. After all, according to her, this was probably the only time her stature would prove useful.

Also, it was a really good thing that Caro had trained Friedrich enough in the five months since the JS Incident to stay in the _Eden_ while they scouted - she did have to talk to her dragon every day, though, but barring her beloved dragon's need for daily communication, she had gone a long way in her training in that short a time.

Erio and Caro's little information collecting (actually, it was more like Caro collecting and Erio forwarding) drive gave the _Eden_ crew a lot to work with. What Erio and Caro found rather disheartening was the fact that Admiral Harlaown had sworn them to secrecy about the mother and daughter they'd run into when returning to the civilian cafe where RF6 usually met after a morning of information-gathering.

Their astonishment at the resemblance of the teenaged girl named Alicia nearly blew their cover, and upon their return to the _Eden_, Chrono made sure they wouldn't let this crucial piece of information float into either Fate or Nanoha's ears - the mission would be compromised if the two squadron leaders found this one out.

And now, they were quickly darting between the alleys, all pretense of movement gone as Caro already had her Device out and was aiding Erio as he took care of using Flash Move to elude any pursuers.

"Do you think we've lost them?" Caro asked after they had stopped running - by Erio's reckoning, they had ended up in one of the training grounds the ninja use, which was fine for both of them, as they only needed to return to the Eden in one piece and not get in bad with the locals.

"Nobody here moves at the pace we do, except maybe the target."

A loud crash interrupted their thoughts, and a familiar sensation of mana flooding the area seconds afterward got them even more worried. _Signum's already in battle mode!_

"...just as I thought, they also have people our age planted here," a voice came from nearby, and it was Erio who took the initiative, dashing forward with Strada already in Active Mode, slashing where he thought the voice came from.

"Lightning 4, requesting backup of Lightning 4-2. Position compromised, we may be in a fight," Caro mentally sent to the _Eden._

"Roger that. ETA 5 seconds," the voice of the bridge officer echoed in Caro's head as she took up a defensive position.

"Crescent Moon Attack!"

_Crap! _Erio thought as he felt the distinctive tingle in the back of his head that was the strange energy this world called chakra flaring around him. He barely had enough time to twist to the side, lean backward, and quickly backpedal to his partner, narrowly evading what would be a quick death by sword strikes.

"Caro!"

Three fireballs bearing down on the attackers forced them to break formation and once again vanish in the shadows.

"That was close, Erio... if you were hit while your Barrier Jacket wasn't up..."

"That won't happen again," the redhead responded, changing into his combat outfit in a flash of light and an evocation of a Velkan magic circle.

"Awesome duds," one voice said at the light show.

"It's just like the one Naruto-niichan wears when he has those daggers of his out, only this one has sleeves."

"Come on, let's take them down before they end up as..." a girl said.

"That's not... good."

It was this time that a fully unsealed Friedrich strode into view from the alley where the pink-haired girl was taking cover.

"Please pinch me and tell me that's not a dragon," one of the genin said upon seeing Caro's pet.

A quick breath of fire towards their location, and three genin and their jonin-sensei once more took to a defensive position.

"Make sure they don't take to the skies, we'll be at a disadvantage if they manage to get on that... that thing!" the adult ninja said, holding his own sword. "I'll take care of the dragon. You take on the two kids."

"Roger that, Hayate-sensei!" the genin leader - a kid with long, spiky brown hair said, rolling easily into a better fighting stance, ninjato in one hand and the other ready to cast jutsu at a moment's notice. "I'll take the redhead. Udon, Moegi... bring the pinkette down."

"Okay, Konohamaru-kun!" the two responded - Erio noticed that the other boy was nondescript except for the large pair of glasses he sported, and the girl had orange hair that reminded him of a character from a video game Subaru-san loved to play during her time off.

What he also noticed was that all four ninja were carrying ninjato - medium-length bladed weapons that were most likely designed to harness the familiar form of energy they called chakra, and that they had a sound battle plan - keep Friedrich out of the fight, while the three kids take on them.

_Pity they didn't know that one Fate T. Harlaown trained me personally, _Erio thought, grinning as he got into a combat stance, gesturing to the one called Konohamaru to bring the fight on.

The training ground exploded into a battleground shortly, the older swordsman battling the dragon while his two students harassed the pink-haired summoner, preventing her from aiding either one of her teammates.

Konohamaru, on the other hand, was rapidly proving that he was every bit worthy of his last name, as a very surprised Erio found out that the genin could keep up with his weapon attacks and then some.

_**Signum**_

_This child is something else! _Signum thought as once again, she dashed into the attack, only to find it repelled by her old rival's Scimitarform.

It had been just over ten minutes, and the General of Blazing Flame could not believe that someone could synchronize with Reynard this seamlessly - her gradually returning memories of her first few sorties as part of the Tome of the Night Sky showed her that Lass - the spirit housed within the magical dagger - turned out to be the hardest one to synchronize with out of all the Devices made during the tail end of what history would call the Destiny conflict.

But even then, the knights who melded partially with Reynard turned out to be combatants who had fought on par with her - the last one who nearly reached perfection while fighting in tandem with the Armed Device had very nearly defeated her - it took one of the luckiest breaks in the Wolkenritter's existence for her to have vanquished that foe.

Right now, though, Signum knew that she'd have to rely on more than just a lucky break to defeat this one.

She lunged forward, only for the boy to flow into the attack and grab onto the sword with his left hand, protected as it was by a set of chains wrapped around it.

**"**_**Chain Crush."**_

Signum felt something pass through her, and her balance briefly left her as the boy pulled at Levantine, sending her pitching forward. Her hand-to-hand fighting wasn't that bad, though, so she took this chance to ball up her free hand and use the momentum to send the boy flying with a punch.

The only thing was, when the boy hit a tree, he exploded in a cloud of smoke.

"Where are you?" Signum asked. "If you cease this and come quietly, the Bureau is prepared to be lenient with your... Village..."

Moments after she heard something rustling behind her, Signum felt two arms dig into her underarms and shoulders, pinning her upper body in some sort of unarmed-combat hold.

"I don't think so," Naruto replied, but the pink-haired swordswoman simply went still for a few moments before bending forward with startling speed, breaking the lock and throwing him several feet into the air.

This was the opportunity Signum saw to press the attack, but the sword slash was parried at the last moment, the blonde grinning as another one of those duplicates of his sprang from another location, spinning ball of energy in hand.

_He's been playing at his best game from the start. Might as well go full-tilt too, Levantine, Cartridge Load!_

_**Jawohl, **_her Device responded.

_**"Explosion!"**_ the voice of Signum's Device echoed throughout the battlefield as the hiss of steam that was the sound of a Cartridge being loaded followed suit.

_Okay, something big's coming!_

The eyes of both Narutos widened as they saw fire begin to emerge from their opponent's sword.

_This is so going to suck, _Naruto thought as the swordswoman rushed forward with her newly-enchanted blade, moving left to right to confuse him as to her approach, opening with a feint and then swinging the sword around in a near-circular slash. While she didn't manage to hit them with the blade, the flaming mana surging around Levantine afforded her the range to do so.

Both of her opponents were sent flying back a good distance, screaming before one of them went up in a puff of smoke, the other one taking several seconds before jumping up again, visibly winded but still able to continue the fight.

"That was pretty good, but you're not gonna get me again with that one!" Naruto said cheerfully, trying to use his exuberance to partially disorient his foe.

"When it's all said and done, you will be the one defeated. My name is Signum..."

"I already know your name, and who you're here for," Naruto replied. "The name's Uzumaki Naruto."

He flashed forward and attacked from above, following that up by quickly ducking downward and sweeping low with his scimitar, causing the General of Blazing Flame to leap upward, only to block the upward swing of her opponent's blade at the very last moment, the force of the blow sending her back several feet.

"And if you're going to arrest Aunt Precia for whatever she did back then..." Naruto continued before shifting to a different combat stance, "...you're gonna have to go through me."

His pink-haired opponent only answered by sheathing her sword and moving into a stance Naruto clearly remembered from three years back.

_**Battoujutsu. **_

_I know. This is just great, _Naruto thought as he barely dodged an incoming strike from the pink-haired knight._  
_

It was now Naruto's turn to be completely on the defensive, his opponent not giving him any opportunity to use his arsenal of ninjutsu as she moved in with high-speed sword strikes and multiple changes in direction that even his perception could not detect accurately, forcing him to take a few powerful hits now and then.

Thankfully, his link to the purified chakra assisted his healing process, but those hits still hurt an awful lot.

Naruto finally found a break after several minutes of evasive tactics when he found a split-second gap between the sword strikes that he could use to backpedal with several quick uses of Shunshin. Hopefully, the little time he could buy was enough for him to switch back to Dagger Form and start playing to his combat advantage - the dagger art that he had spent a proportionally large amount of time training under Lass with.

As he flashed backward in the rapid-motion space-time jutsu that was Shunshin, he found himself remembering the basics of the art that he had still yet to master, despite three years of training and the memories of around ten thousand dispelled Kage Bunshin gave him.

_**Precision. Persistence. Perfection.**_

_That's the purpose of this style?_

_**Exactly.**_

_Be warned. This is a killing style; something completely unlike what you've been learning. Once you begin this, all you'll learn after this will be viewed through the same harsh light as this method. And "fighting style" is a misnomer - when you've been immersed into this, it will be less a style and more a philosophy of life._

Naruto gritted his teeth as his Device reverted to Dagger Form during the precious few moments he bought, remembering that he had to nearly start over from scratch to understand Lass' true combat style.

_Time to step this up._

Meanwhile, Signum was trying to keep her cool. _Someone who can wield Lass as fluidly as this boy..._

Another exchange of blows, and Signum couldn't help but feel the intensity of her opponent's desire to protect his "Aunt Precia". _Could it be true? Does this mean the criminal we've been sent to apprehend has a family?_

Naruto kept dancing around until he finally got inside his opponent's guard.

_Damn!_

She ended up blocking a flurry of dagger slashes_,_ finishing with a point-blank Thunder Slash whose power she felt, even with the Knight Armor's protection, and as she made distance to use her weapon's reach advantage, the telepathic message her opponent sent was as clear as crystal.

_I will defend my precious people, even from you._

_Very well, _Signum answered. _You shall have your wish._

_**Nanoha and Fate**_

At the same time that pandemonium was beginning to erupt in the Village Hidden in the Leaves, two blurs would be seen in the skies flying at a very impressive pace towards Konoha.

"Stars 1 to Eden Prime. How long until we make it to the target?" Takamachi Nanoha relayed over to their mobile headquarters.

"At your current speed, ETA is two minutes, thirty seconds. This just in - large-scale mana flare detected. Barrier Jackets and Devices have been deployed - RF6's cover has been blown."

"The wide-area subspace creation?" Fate asked.

"We have a team on standby, and will activate Dimensional Prison upon your arrival into the immediate area."

"Good," Nanoha said as she pushed her Accel Fin to even more speed, her colleague following suit. "We've got to get there immediately!"

Within half a minute, both TSAB officers saw the gates of Konoha, and the crystalline lattice that was its barrier against chakra-using entities.

What Konoha didn't know was that this lattice was currently about to be used by the Shield Team to close off the Village in the largest-scale Dimensional Prison spell the likes of which was last used by the Tome of Darkness several years ago...

As Nanoha and Fate broke through into the city, they felt the energy that was the displacement spell passing through them. But as the periphery took hold, something confused them as they flew through the city skies - a significant amount of people had not been displaced.

"This is Stars 1. Shield Team application of DP Periphery has a negative result, I repeat, a negative result. Pull Shield Team out now."

"Negative, Stars 1. Shield Team has also been detected and is currently in combat. Lightning 1..."

"This is Lightning 1."

"We've received something really odd. It looks like someone is out there that has a mana signature matching yours perfectly, and it's nearby."

Fate's face paled for a moment before she finally nodded. "I'll check it out."

"Acknowledged. The location is a clearing several hundred meters to your northeast. Be careful, Fate."

"Roger that."

The blonde broke off and took for the location pinpointed by her Device where her familiar and several others were fighting. And as she passed by buildings and places, her thoughts were a rather confused jumble as the familiar sights left her with a very powerful feeling of deja vu.

_Have I been here before?_

She passed through the ninja residential sector before breaking out into a large grassy meadow - preliminary scouting reports had one of the larger training grounds here. But that wasn't what the TSAB enforcer was thinking as she combed the perimeter of the training grounds for a sign of the suspicious mana signature.

_Why does this place look so familiar?_

All coherent thought fled the mind of one Fate T. Harlaown as when she looked through the clearing, there was a lone tree standing on top of a small hill, right in the middle of the meadow.

_It can't be._

And under its branches, a girl her age was seated.

_It can't be!_

Her movements slowed down until she went to a complete stop, landing several feet away from the tree, and by this time, the feeling of her blood surging all throughout her body frightened and excited her.

_This can't be right... can it?_

Just then, the girl stood up and opened her eyes - two pairs of blood-red eyes locking on each other. Fate took a step back, gasping before taking into account the girl's outfit - a light gray jacket over a black shirt, with midnight blue bicycle shorts under a dark gray miniskirt, black fingerless gloves and black ninja sandals rounding out her clothing. Weapon pouches were strapped onto the belt that held her skirt up, around her thighs, and punctuating this was the forehead protector worn loosely like a necklace carved with the spiral leaf that symbolized her allegiance to Konoha.

"This is Eden Prime. Lightning 1, report."

"I... Alicia... is... here..." the response came to the ship as nary louder than a whisper. "Alicia... is this some kind of illusion?"

"Looks like their description was spot-on," Admiral Chrono Harlaown said as he and the Eden crew took in their very first glimpse of the thought-to-be-dead Alicia Testarossa.

Fate's eyes widened further as she saw that the girl was grasped a small yellow-and-blue shield in her right hand - the crest of the ancient kingdom of Kanavan. "It's you... Alicia... Am I dreaming?"

The other blonde only shook her head as she smiled at Fate, eyes beginning to moisten.

Meanwhile, on board the Eden, Chrono nodded in satisfaction as if a puzzle in his mind was somehow solved. "So that's it," he said. "It explains nearly everything."

"What do you mean, Admiral?" a member of the bridge staff asked.

"What would become the Time-Space Administration Bureau had recovered two of the components of the Tome of the Midlight's Deep at the end of the Destiny conflict," Chrono explained. "The current AI system of today's Intelligent Devices and modern Armed Devices we use were based on the support systems that enabled the souls of Elesis the Crimson Knight and Ronan the Scion of Erudon to exist as Armed Devices. We have finished the job Ancient Velka started..."

"...and these two were reformatted for the Mid-Childa-based Intelligent Devices by the eminent researcher on Devices, Xenia Grania Testarossa..." Chrono said. "Not only have we officially gone full circle, it's answered one question that had been nagging me for some time about how Bardiche looks very familiar..."

"So... so Fate is tied to this whole thing more than we originally thought?" Amy asked.

"Looks like it," Chrono said. "Seems like even with all the precautions we took, they set this up excellently - no, we set ourselves up. We're under the gun now, and if this gets any worse than it already is, we just might have to take the field ourselves, Lieutenant."

Hayate, who by now had her Barrier Jacket out and Reinforce Zwei ready to Unison, nodded solemnly at this, hoping that she wouldn't have to actually take to the field.

Meanwhile, two sisters, whose last meeting had probably been a dream, met for the first time once again. Although it was another tree, another clearing, and another place... everything was the same and at the same time different.

Alicia's eyes were harder than even Fate could imagine - almost like her mother's during the time when she...

_No, _Fate thought. _That time was past._

"You remembered," Alicia finally said, gripping Siegfried even tighter as she knew everything Fate had gone through - and that the Bureau would inevitably come for their mother, so Naruto had told her.

"...how could I not?" Fate asked, sadly. "But... even if... you're alive... and here... I must..."

"...apprehend Mother?"

Fate looked at her sister with a shocked expression.

"I know everything she did. Everything..." Alicia explained. "You do too, right? Because... I see through your eyes when I dream... the same way you see through mine."

Fate gripped her Device and got into a combat stance. "Because of that, you must stand aside. Precia Testarossa must pay for what she's done!"

"That's true, but..." Alicia answered as she slowly followed suit, getting ready to unseal her own Device, "but as of now, Precia Testarossa is a jonin in the service of Konohagakure, as am I."

_**"Barrier Jacket: Knight Mode."**_

"And part of my duty as a ninja of the Leaf is to protect my comrades," Alicia finished as the first level of her Barrier Jacket flashed into being - the girl stepped forward as the summoning spell wrapped up, revealing an outfit Fate had only seen in history books of the time before even the Ancient Velkan Empire - the dress uniform of a knight of the kingdom of Kanavan.

"This... this is also part of my duty," Fate said resignedly, removing her focus from her awe at her counterpart's strength, shifting towards the real reason for her presence here - assist Nanoha in apprehending Precia. "If you won't step aside, I'll have to go through you, even if you are my sister!"

_**"Harken Form. Get set."**_

"You can try."

_**"Spellblade Mode."**_

A gust of wind blew over the clearing as the two sisters gripped their weapons, waiting for the other to make the first move...

...and in a sudden flash of motion, scythe clashed against magic sword in a terrific burst of yellow energy as the battle began.

_**Vita and Zafira**_

"How long do you think we've been followed?" a redheaded girl asked to no one in particular as she walked her dog along the outskirts of Konoha's ninja sector, near the training grounds.

_"Long enough. We have three pursuers, Vita. I sense an energy similar to mana from each of them, so they're most likely natives of this place."_

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Vita asked. "Let's take the fight to them, already."

_"That's not exactly the best course of action to take. Remember that our mission objective now is to assist Stars 1 in her apprehension of a certain S-ranked criminal."_

"Doesn't mean we can have our share of fun, though, Zafira," Vita said. She was about to add something along the lines of being frustrated at not getting into a good scrap in several days when an explosion rocked a training ground nearby.

_"That's Signum."_

A flash of energy passed through them, and out the corner of her eye, the Knight of the Iron Hammer saw an empty street in the distance where there were formerly a throng of civilians.

"And that's the Shield Team," Vita answered. "What's taking Nanoha so long in getting here, anyway?"

"They were called towards a different location, if you may recall..." Zafira replied before rearing back. "Even then, we're not going to get a chance to back Nanoha-san up, Vita... because we have company."

Though both of them were ready for an incoming assault, the attack itself came with virtually no warning, with Vita only barely noticing a flash in front of her before putting up a shield at the last moment to block the melee attack that was curiously (to her) a fist coated with some kind of energy.

The redhead never had a chance to focus on her assailant as another attack - a fireball that was large as the redhead was tall - came from Vita's six, causing her to put up a shield with her other hand on instinct.

_Can't summon Graf Eisen with my hands full, damn it! _Vita thought, and it gradually went worse as two spinning shapes zoomed into the outskirts of the training ground, heading towards the Shielding Guardian Beast...

...and crashed head-on into the two, causing an impressive amount of dust to be kicked up into the air from the impact.

By the time Vita had righted herself from being thrown by the attack into the vicinity of the training ground, she already had her Device at the ready and her Knight Armor online - Zafira, likewise, had also recovered, changing into his humanoid form and sliding into his own fighting stance.

Those attacks were powerful, but for two of the Wolkenritter, it only did barely superficial damage.

_Maybe that was the point, _Zafira thought. _That attack was probably meant to bring Vita and I here. No matter, the wider the battleground the better the shape we'll be in to fight in full force._

"Oi, Zafira," Vita told her colleague. "You don't have any problem with beating these kids to the ground, do you?"

"I regularly spar with Vivio - who's much younger than these three - so I don't mind taking on three whelps. And you're at my six, so it's not that bad."

"Thanks, I guess," Vita answered, pouting before turning to a corner of the clearing. "Oi, are you guys gonna show yourselves, or do I have to flatten this damn town for you to show up?"

"This little girl has some mouth on her," one of their assailants replied, his grin widening as he saw a reaction from the redhead. This one wore a gray fur-trimmed jacket, some strange red markings on his face, smelled strongly of dog, and had a canine companion flanking him. _Probably that guy who got the drop on Zafira._

"Still, doesn't it get you that we're gonna be taking on some little girl and a wolf man?" the other male assailant asked. This one had a black shirt, dark-blue shorts, bandages wrapped around both arms up to the knuckles of both hands, the metal band wrapped around his upper arm, and had red eyes with black commas inside them that spun slowly. _Red eyes? Maybe some sort of special ability. Our scouting didn't get us information on things like that... so we've gotta tread carefully..._

"Guys, we're being invaded. Gotta focus." This one was a pink-haired girl who wore that strap of shiny metal on a strip of cloth as some sort of headband. _Either her hairline is really that far back or her forehead is just that wide,_ Vita thought dryly as she took in the girl's outfit - a red sleeveless dress that flowed along her figure, stopping a few inches above the knees. Bicycle shorts and the usual ninja accessories rounded out her wardrobe, and it seemed she was this group's "voice of reason".

The earth around Zafira's feet rippled, and the Guardian Beast backpedaled slightly as Vita floated to a foot above the ground, anticipating an attack from the trio.

The attack did come, but from a completely different direction, as Zafira molded mana in his right arm to parry a lightning-coated strike that came from his flank, the blue-clad Knight saw his attacker as a silver-haired ninja with a scar over one red eye.

"Get the girl, I'll take this one!" Zafira's attacker said as he backed up and drew a kunai, expecting a retaliatory attack.

Moments passed with all six combatants gauging each others' move, waiting for the first strike, and then the boy with the dog decided to start things off, dashing in and attacking. _When did his dog transform into another copy of him? _Vita asked as she sent a trio of Swallow Fliers toward the boy's two teammates.

_Don't think, just go! My hands are full here! _Zafira said mentally as he had to get on the defensive with his opponent's deft kunai strikes. _This guy is shaping up to be a formidable foe!_

_**Subaru, Teana and Ginga**_

When the original plans for infiltrating Konoha, gathering information and apprehending Precia Testarossa were drawn up, Nakajima Ginga was first assigned to the Shield Team - backing up Shamal, Yuuno Scrya and Fate T. Harlaown's familiar Arf in the first phase of their operation.

The primary purpose of the Shield Team was to erect a city-wide Dimensional Prison to enclose any mana-users within, finding and subduing anyone they may come across.

They had gotten crucial intelligence from their informant here that Konoha had a defensive wall of chakra - the Dimensional Prison spell would theoretically be able to structure itself around the perimeter, allowing it to work much faster and more effectively.

The ferret changeling Yuuno Scrya was there to back up Shamal, the primary caster of the Prison spell his skills with binding and defensive spells; as was Arf.

But a last-minute adjustment based on Konoha's logistics had Ginga team up with her sister and her colleague Teana - their teamwork was pretty good...

...but against a trio of Konoha-nin whose skills complemented each other so well, their teamwork looked mundane by comparison.

The heavyset one used his techniques to widen the shadows the pineapple-headed ninja used to try and catch the three of them; which they had difficulty doing, as the large one hit really hard, and they also had to evade the constant threat of psychic attack the blonde girl was throwing at them.

Another hail of shuriken coming at them was shot out of the sky by Teana's shooting, but in the back of the orange-haired girl's mind, she was feeling her opponents out, trying to find what the underlying objective of their opponents were.

Shadows which are their form of binding spell, psychic assault and heavy combat...

_...damn it!_

Teana figured it out a split-second too late as suddenly, the formation of their opponents suddenly changed, the girl focusing her psychic assault on her and Ginga while the two other ninja shifting towards Subaru.

She never had a chance to give her teammate a word of warning as she was bound by her shadow in a flash, the larger ninja heading towards her at speeds she did not believe someone of that size possessed.

Ginga, on the other hand, had been nearly taken out of the fight by a new entrant into the battle - a bearded man who carried knives that operated similarly to Signum-san's flaming sword techniques. She fought on valiantly, but with just a few mistakes she made about the length of her opponent's weapons, she ended up taking one too many hits and was knocked out quickly.

By then, Teana could only turn to the side as she saw her blonde opponent lock onto her and yell out some sort of technique name, and then all went to black...

...Meanwhile, one Nakajima Subaru couldn't move.

That wasn't the worst thing.

She saw her sister go down fighting.

**_I've got to do something!_**

When she saw her partner Teana go down from that psychic blast, all thoughts of subtlety went out the window. She'd get Gin-nee and Tea-chan to safety, and Subaru didn't care how she'd do it - or even if she would go down trying to.

As the larger ninja's fist closed in on her, she barely felt the punch as the special component of her physiology beginning to kick in, absorbing the impact, redirecting the momentum to her Revolver Knuckle, both rotors already beginning to spin on her subconscious command.

Akimichi Chouji barely registered the fact that the girl's green eyes had changed to gold, and a different, more ominous aura had radiated from her... and the next thing his teammates managed to make out was a red blur blur flying across the training ground - one moment, Chouji was in this girl's face, and another, he was sailing in the air from a punch he'd barely blocked, leaving a visible dent on his armored gauntlets...

By the time Team 10 figured out what was going on, their three opponents were... gone, leaving behind a blue trail.

The pursuit was on.

_**Shamal, Yuuno and Arf**_

_So we've done our share, haven't we?_

"That's just about right," an unassuming blonde young man said as he stood up from a stance on the ground. Looking over the perimeter of Konoha where the skies within the village proper had taken on a differently blue tinge from today's sunny day, Yuuno Scrya was satisfied that their part of the mission had gone without a hitch, so far. "All we need to do is get a positive ID on our target, and we'll..."

Two hands suddenly appeared out of nowhere to yank him aside, for the space he had formerly occupied was now riddled with kunai knives.

"In the name of - what was that?" Yuuno asked as he dusted himself off from his less-than-perfect landing.

"It wasn't just us who ended up doing our homework," Arf replied, now taking on her primary battle form. "Four targets."

_"A generalist, a close-range specialist, a long-range attacker and an element user," _the Lady of the Lake echoed telepathically as the personnel she had marked off during her watching the village made their appearance.

_"HQ, this is Shield 1. How soon can you send us backup?"_ Yuuno asked the _Eden._

"Backup team C is set to enter your position in T minus thirty seconds. The coordinates you're sending will have to be precise; we can't allow any anomalies to occur with such a large-scale Dimension Magic cast close by."

_"Roger that,"_ Yuuno answered, but the confident look on his face quickly vanished as he put up one of his shields moments before a sword made of ice attempted to skewer him.

As he was holding down the attack, he could see Arf tangling with two dark-haired women while Shamal was playing hide-and-seek with a young man wearing a large jacket. Diverting some energy to a searching-based spell, he nearly broke his control when he perceived a large colony of insects in what seemed to be a symbiotic relationship with this young man.

_And they're keeping us moving to prevent reinforcements from coming... this wasn't what we'd expected their response to be... almost as if they prepared for us! Wait a minute..._

His thoughts were interrupted as the sword of ice came from another angle, and the part-time librarian had to summon his Chain Binds as an impromptu weapon to prevent the Device from taking him out of this operation. _I've got to do what I can now! Nanoha and the others are depending on me!_

_Shield 1..._

_This is Shield 1! Stars 3, what's going on?_

_Stars 4 and 5 are down; I repeat, Stars 4 and 5 are down. I'm heading over to your location, and we may be pursued._

_Crap. Shield 2._

_Yes?_

_Stars 3 to 5 are heading your way. Shield 3, cover them._

Yuuno parried one of the thrusts of that icicle sword and cast a quick Bind to stall for time, but a different set of ropes lunged at him - _wait, were those snakes? _He also managed to block that with a last-minute Shield spell, and that was enough for him to get some breathing room, as both of his opponents backpedaled to avoid getting disarmed by a few hands that appeared from nowhere.

_Just a little longer...  
_

_**Takamachi Nanoha**_

_Raising Heart, can we do something about this?_

_**Yes, my master. Attack pattern Delta on the third quadrant, approach vector is 45 degrees to the left, and Shooter Release is at Focus 2.**_

_Thank you, Raising Heart._

**_It is all right._**

The three ninja pitted against Takamachi Nanoha, Stars 1 of the newly-remade Mobile Assault Force 6, were using a very unorthodox method of attack.

Sure, Nanoha had seen her parents and siblings in mock battle in the family art, but this... this was something similar in theory, but different in execution.

Nanoha's three ninja opponents attacked in a very seamless manner: the brown-haired young man maintaining a very high rate of speed even as he ran across walls, rooftops and even ceilings, aiming to score a debilitating hit with those spinning flying kicks of his. As she was kept occupied by the relentless barrage of acrobatic moves, the unassuming young man went between the shadows, taking his time to pop out every now and then and throw kunai or shuriken laced with explosives to disorient her.

_I'll time my attack when the girl throws that jutsu, _Nanoha told her Device, remembering long-lost quips her parents used to give her when she had just told them of her status as a magical girl.

_You've managed to keep up with Onii-chan and Onee-chan even without Raising Heart, Nanoha. You can do this, _she told herself.

And as the dark-haired girl broke cover and flashed through the handseals Nanoha knew was for some sort of ninja technique, the part of her that had taken up her family's training took over, and with a seamless casting of Flash Move, she was in the kunoichi's face even before she finished the seals - six point-blank shots of Divine Shooter was all it took to send her into unconsciousness.

"Mugi!" the kicker yelled, and threw another one of his kicks to try and subdue his foe, only to hit solid metal as the girl dressed in white had somehow used Kawarimi to swap with the nearby air-conditioning unit.

He never had a chance to scream in pain as Nanoha quickly clubbed him with Raising Heart in the back of the head, knocking him out.

The last one was easy enough to flush out - one cast of Accel Shooter to draw him into the open, and a melee attack from an unexpected angle to finish the job.

Thus, Takamachi Nanoha gracefully landed onto the multi-purpose lot just outside the Konoha Ninja Academy, looking towards where her Wide Area Search spell had indicated her target was, and the target didn't seem to have moved from her location. _Odd, _she thought as she cautiously made her way into the building and down the halls, Raising Heart in hand, carefully keeping an eye out for traps and other things...

_**Precia Testarossa**_

_**Wide Area Search completed, master. Your bodyguards seem to have been defeated.**_

_It was inevitable, Hrist. Come, let us face it head-on._

_**As you wish.**_

_Thank you, _Precia Testarossa gently told her Device as she opened her eyes.

Strangely, the classroom door wasn't kicked down nor the windows blown out - as she was expecting. _Maybe because she thinks there are still children here._

_**Your traps have been remotely disarmed.**_

_I had forseen it, Hrist. Our opponent would. Speaking of which, here she comes now._

She smiled as the door to the classroom opened, and in strode a brown-haired young woman with a frilly white-and-blue dress adorned with a red ribbon on the chest, carrying the pink-and-white staff topped with a red gem. Precia grinned at how strange that the person tasked by the Bureau to apprehend her had virtually remained unchanged - barring the increase in height and womanly attributes.

"...So, you've finally come for me... Takamachi Nanoha," Precia said, her voice gradually returning to the tone the Bureau had come to expect from her as she stood from the teacher's seat, holding Hrist at the ready, her Barrier Jacket already unleashed in Minotaur Mode.

"By the power vested in me by the Time-Space Administration Bureau, Precia Testarossa," Nanoha replied, her voice similarly dropping into a more eerie timbre, "you are under arrest."

_**"Excelion Mode."**_

"It's going to take more than your talking stick to take me down," Precia said as the two combatants slowly circled each other. Moments passed, and just as toes rapidly spun for leverage and the smallest of gestures betrayed ulterior motives, it happened suddenly, a flash of movement and the revealing of their abilities.

An explosion burst outward from one of the Ninja Academy's classrooms, with a pink streak breaking off from the fireball, a violet flash of light in hot pursuit.

Pink balls curved this way and that as Nanoha fired off another volley of Accel Shooter, only for her opponent to slip around them with surprising ease, closing the distance between them quickly.

"You really didn't think I'd spend all my time here living with my head in the clouds, thinking you'd never find me and Alicia here..." Precia began as she gracefully spun her Device in Spear Mode, throwing a mix of feints and thrusts to keep the white-clad brunette from going to her long-range attacks. "...did you?"

A blocked swing of her spear followed by a spinning back kick sent Precia's opponent backward.

"Those movements..." Nanoha whispered. "_Tsubame Gaeshi..._"

"Ah, I had forgotten..." Precia replied as the memory came back to her. "You seem to know about it, just like my Device."

She thought it was a feint, but with a flick of the wrist, the spear's range suddenly seemed to increase.

_**"Mana flare."**_

With a hasty Flash Move to make even a little distance, Takamachi Nanoha suddenly remembered that ironic saying about "how the other tragedy in this life is getting what you want".

_All irony aside... this is a chance to strike back at the one who hurt Fate-chan so much... and I'll make everything I can out of this opportunity!_

Meanwhile, Precia tried to cover up her worries over her fellows, the townsfolk, and her children... but put it on the back burner.

_I've got to hold them off for as long as I can - until either Hokage-sama or someone else steps in, and I don't have to give away all the secrets I've found out here all at once._

_Besides, _she added,_ Naruto and Alicia are fine. They have the Chase on their side._

Somehow, Nanoha noticed her opponent's smile didn't seem as crazed as the last time she saw Precia... it looked more relieved.

_It's not going to matter. I'll take her down, haul her back to the Eden, and get this whole mess straightened out. Fate may have forgiven you... __**but I haven't.**_

The two of them exchanged odd looks before the brown-haired mage pointed her staff, readying her trademarked Divine Buster attack - instead of trying to close out, and was nearly skewered by an errant spear strike.

Nanoha swung the condensed pink edge of the Excelion Buster as a blade, counterattacking her opponent's overhead attack, Devices meeting in a powerful display of energy.

And around them and between all the other battles being waged across the Village Hidden in the Leaves, the day continued onward, the eerie gray glow of the dimensional periphery cast unnoticed as dark gray clouds began appearing in the skies...

Still, Konoha burned... burned in the wake of this invasion... and this was all just the beginning of something even worse.

Chapter 5 - **END**

**author's notes:**

Just to be clear, the Grand Chase's Mastery Forms are their Full Drives; Precia is the only one so far in this story to access Savior Mode (her Full Drive) at will...

I'll probably do a bit more reading on how the appearance of the TSAB will most likely shock most of Konoha (except the ninja populace - they've already known about magecraft for some time now; two mages and four Device users in their active roster can do that).

We'll see a lot more of Creepy Nanoha in the next two chapters. And if you can't picture Nanoha being creepy, may I remind you that Nanoha's seiyuu also did Furude Rika (of Higurashi).

If there are parts in this story that seem inconsistent, **reread Arcane Heart** - what seems to be inconsistencies in this story will make sense when you read through its prequel.

Just something to think about.


	6. Stars, Lightning and Leaves, Part 2

_disclaimer:_ Naruto, Nanoha, and Grand Chase aren't mine. No, seriously.

Sorry for the long release delay; many, many events have taken place, foremost of which was that my grandfather passed away.

Also my apologies if the quality of the story seems to be dropping - the inspiration for writing scenes here doesn't seem to be as great as it once was (now that I'm in unfamiliar territory).

By the way, I changed up some of the weapon and job names when GCPH's versions were too lame to use.

Oh yeah, there is a poll on my profile - do check it out when you have the time.

Anyway, here's Chapter 6 - hope this chapter was worth the long wait!

And here's to faster releases of chapters this 2011. Happy New Year, everyone!

* * *

_If I'm swept away by nightmares  
And my unending painful rain  
I'll break through and be next to you_

* * *

_**Naruto: Twin Fates**_

**Chapter 6: Stars, Lightning and Leaves - Part 2**

_**Unknown  
**_

"A teacher?"

"You **did** get what I sent you. That's strange. Your interrogation results **match perfectly** with the profile I sent?"

"Yes... of course. That's probably the best shot we have out of a bad lot of alternatives; if my people will agree to our deal, a lot of potential trouble will be nipped at the bud, provided you pitch in your part of the bargain."

"That's a great idea! Tell you what, I'm going to call a meeting and put your proposal on the table. With everything else going on right now, we can't afford to be at odds."

"Great. Talk to you later."

Click.

_**Uzumaki Naruto**_

If there was one thing Naruto's Armed and Unison Devices found strange in their master, it was that Uzumaki Naruto disliked killing... but greatly enjoyed fighting.

It made some bizarre sort of sense, as Lass found out, because Naruto took to fighting like a fish to water - he saw angles, approaches, set chakra kunai traps ahead of time that he'd change into Kage Bunshin, Suiton Kage Bunshin or Fuuton Kage Bunshin when the time was right, and generally saved his best moves for fighting much stronger opponents.

Lass' training had a lot to do with it, too - thirty months of "precision training" had increased the versatility of Naruto's Fuuton and Suiton techniques from wide-area to something he could use in very close quarters, among other, more significant benefits he'd been discreet about showing.

Plus, Naruto always gave his sensei Jiraiya some of the results of this training for the sheer shock value of it, nothing more - and that was another thing he had been getting really good at, disguising the extent of which he had mastered his skills.

Precision training had helped with his Rasengan had increased his proficiency with it to the point where all he needed to cast a Fuuton: Rasenshuriken was about five seconds worth of distraction, and he was already working on doing a throwable version without the need for mana-based reinforcement while cutting the time to cast it in half.

Those scrolls from Demon Country he studied on the way back to Konoha also helped a bit, as it took him a mere matter of time to read his opponent's lines of attack, dancing between the _battoujutsu_ slashes as he went for the counterattack, gathering mana into the daggers clasped in both hands.

He had to admire the progress he made in his training paying off as he got inside his opponent's guard, let loose a flurry of mana-enhanced dagger strikes, and finished with a point-blank Thunder Slash that sent the pink-haired swordswoman sliding several feet back.

But as the smoke from the detonated mana slash cleared up, it was obvious that Naruto still had a ways to go when it came to sheer power, as that last attack didn't even scratch his opponent's armor.

Thus, she came charging back with renewed vigor, changing stances and switching directions abruptly to attempt to fake the Konoha chunin out. To Naruto, the only thing that was true was that she knew her skill with _battoujutsu_ was not enough to overpower him; and that she thought he took a long time to switch his Device between forms.

_She thinks I can't use the quick-switch, huh? _Naruto asked himself as he likewise began his approach, laterally moving in quick bursts of speed in near tandem with the swordswoman. _Heh, she's got another thing coming._

As soon as he felt the increased weight of her mana come down on the left foot, he made a snap decision to use his speed and beat the attack to the punch, charging forward as he instantaneously transformed his Device into its Sealing Form - that of a single curved-edge scimitar on his right hand, with chains wrapped around his left hand up towards near his elbow to fend, parry, and counterattack.

_**"Chain Crush."**_

It would have been a picture-perfect preemptive riposte, however, what Uzumaki Naruto ended up holding in his left hand was round, rather soft... and, come to think of it, was definitely **not** a sword.

Already thinking ahead to what he might have grabbed onto, Naruto's eyes swung to where his opponent's sword would be and found that the woman's face already sported a rapidly deepening blush, and that instead of a sideward slash, she was going for a thrust which the scimitar on his right hand had already parried on instinct.

He looked at his left arm, only to find that his hand was firmly placed on one of his opponent's breasts.

Naruto tried to make telepathic contact with his Device and the former Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, but all he could hear in his mindscape was giggling, snickering, and then full-on laughter. _Perverts._

Several extremely awkward seconds passed before an outlandish idea made itself known in Naruto's head - _if she doesn't like being touched by a guy, why not go the other way?_

A nod of the head later, and Naruto used the variation of the Henge that he used as his other chakra control exercise to change into his girl-form, yellow twintails flowing in the wind and a cute pout on her face which quickly turned into a cheeky grin and a wink.

Her pink-haired opponent gasped, and Naruto-chan took this opportunity to withdraw her left hand and backpedal quickly from whatever infernal retaliation she might have in store, but it never came. Instead, right after Naruto switched back to male form, all he saw was the blush disappearing, being replaced with an expression of confusion.

_That's odd... _Naruto thought as the impasse he thought would be momentarily stretched itself out even more.

_**Shouldn't you be trying to push the attack or spring the trap? We're ninja - we don't play by the rules.**_

_Something tells me that bending the rules is all I'll be capable of doing right now. Who knows what destructive power that woman possesses?_

_**True... and that, plus the fact that a Wolkenritter can be resummoned by its master should it come to grievous or even fatal injury.**_

_So all I'm doing is stalling? Is that it?_

_**Until you get reinforcements, yes. I can sense the ANBU, and they're still finishing the evacuation protocols. Konoha is a lot more undermanned than I originally thought.**_

_Preaching to the choir... _Naruto thought as he saw that during the exchange, his opponent was likewise in thought, but holding out her sword, ready to defend and counterattack on reflex.

_**Just focus on what you're doing. You're keeping up with her, and that's what matters.**_

_Right. Sneak attacks won't work. Gotta go with pure skill on this, _Naruto answered, rolling into another stance.

_**Signum**_

By this time, the pink-haired woman really didn't know what to make of her opponent.

Signum - as one of the "old guards" of Ancient Velka, knew about the school of philosophy whose main principle was that people expressed their thoughts and emotions through their actions, whether they try to or not. And as she brought her sword up into a guard, preparing for her opponent's next attack, she could sense many things from this... Naruto fellow.

What unnerved her was that she felt mischief radiate from him when that accidentally happened, and now she could clearly sense his ambivalence. Naruto didn't move from where he was, instead adjusting his stance as he had been doing the whole fight long - and the more he focused, the easier Signum found it to overhear the boy's communication with his Device.

_**"Look, you've got to keep your mind on this fight. I've heard from Elesis. Your aunt can take care of herself - in fact, Elesis told me they're holding their own against Takamachi Nanoha and Raising Heart."**_

_"But I've got to help..."_

_**"I know, I know. But your duty is here and now. Precia-san is fighting just as hard as you are. Everyone is. So don't let it divert your focus."**_

_"Okay, Lass."_

_**"One more thing..."**_

_"What?"_

_**"I'll bet you TOTALLY enjoyed that."**_

Naruto's stance briefly wavered.

_"I can tell you that it was an accident..."_

_**"Yeah, yeah. Just make sure your opponent won't get to back up that Nanoha woman."**_

_"...of course... and I really enjoyed it."_

_**"Let's talk about it later, shall we? First things first."**_

_"You got it."_

Naruto grinned before the focus of his eyes returned, and he swung his head towards the pink-haired swordswoman, who, contrary to what he had been preparing for, didn't flare out in righteous feminine rage towards that last sequence.

"Uh..." Naruto said, breaking the impasse. "Just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry for, uh... grabbing you... there."

"None taken," the pink-haired swordswoman responded, her expression softening as she felt the uncertainty melt away from this strange blonde knight, replaced by a feeling of joy she found even stranger. "Let's just forget about that and go back to what we were doing."

"Yes... let's," the boy answered as he flashed forward again, covering his charge with a flurry of kunai the swordswoman easily parried before blocking what she knew was the follow-up attack. Signum couldn't help it - she flashed a small but genuine smile to match her opponent's as dagger met sword in a shower of sparks once more, their battle resuming.

_**Yagami Hayate**_

_How secure is this channel?_

_256-bit encryption with a 512-bit alternate bypass code. They __**can**__ try to break it, but the time it will take for them will not be worth it.._

_Thank you, girls. Now... about the favor I asked from both of you?_

_The library had a surprisingly large pull on the Tome, Mistress Hayate._

_How large?_

_Comprehensive. It helps that two of the Devices associated with the Tome of Midlight's Deep were reformatted to the Mid-Childa system... that's strange. Nearly all of this documentation is..._

_What's so strange about the documentation, Aria? Lotte?_

_According to the abstract, the Device reformatting of Hrist and Siegfried from the Ancient Velka to the then-brand new Mid-Childa system was overseen by Xenia Grania Testarossa near the start of the new Mid-Childa calendar and finished by her granddaughter._

_Granddaughter?_

_Yes, and she was also - just like her ancestors - a skilled researcher and technician. Her magnum opus in the realm of Device research was based on the reformatted designs of the Tome of Midlight's Deep - we now know the Device's name as Bardiche._

_...Bardiche? And that name... Testarossa... it seems Chrono-kun's research paid off._

_Mistress Hayate, what should Aria and I do from here?_

_Keep checking the Library for anything about the Midlight's Deep that we might need further along the line._

_As you command, Mistress._

_Also... good job, girls. I'll probably bring something good home to you guys._

_You are too kind, Mistress._

_Sigh... _

_**Alicia Testarossa**_

The ANBU dispatched by the Hokage to serve as observers to these events were awed by the spectacle they were seeing - it was as if they saw one of their jonin - Alicia Testarossa - locked in battle with what could pass off as a mirror image of her - which wasn't that far from the actual truth.

The two blonde girls clashed into each other with an intense ferocity the ANBU had last seen during the invasion of Konoha - they saw it best from some of the more accomplished former members of their roster, like Mitarashi Anko forgetting about that little bet she made and grievously injuring enemy shinobi left and right and Hatake Kakashi showing why he was known as a walking catalog of a thousand jutsu.

Yellow spheres materialized in front of the twintailed girl. _**"Plasma Lancer,"**_ a disembodied voice announced, and Alicia brought up her left hand likewise, as a royal blue magic circle bloomed to life under the Konoha jonin.

_**"Fire!"**_

_**"Ragna Bolt,"**_ Siegfried - Alicia's Device - said in response to the mental command, firing several near-identical projectiles at the flurry of yellow kunai-shaped energy constructs sent at Alicia, nullifying their effect.

And even before the smoke cleared, the two were once again in melee range, exchanging strikes and using a strange object-less variation of the Kawarimi known as Flash Move.

"You're just as good as I remember you to be," Fate said after a particularly vicious exchange of blows only came up to near misses. "I didn't want to have to do this, but you've left me no choice. Bardiche... Haken Form."

_**"Yes, sir,"**_ the metallic voice of Fate's Intelligent Device intoned as the black edge swung upward, revealing a scythelike blade of light that glowed a menacing yellow.

"You're not the only one with those kinds of moves. Siegfried," Alicia said as she, in turn, readied her own surprise as she spun her own Device a few times before holding onto it with two hands. "Glaive Mode."

_**"Acknowledged."**_

The hilt of Alicia's Device lengthened while the blade grew wider and a bit longer, so by the time Alicia had returned to her combat stance, both blade and hilt were roughly the same length, but not unwieldy enough for her to use both hands when swinging it, leaving her off hand free to cast spells or jutsu at a moment's notice.

"I guess it's time to take it up a notch - or several."

"I agree," Fate replied as they charged at each other in another brutally graceful dance of combat.

_**Team 10**_

The team of Sarutobi Asuma, Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji and Yamanaka Ino were currently in pursuit of the three infiltrators in their Village who had strangely gone on the retreat after a short skirmish.

That wasn't on Nara Shikamaru's mind, though, as he was already thinking several steps ahead - indeed, there was a lot in this current situation that didn't make sense.

"They've made it to their allies. That's strange - I can sense Team 8 is only fighting three of them at a time when they should be forcing their strength in numbers. Also..."

"What's on your mind, Shikamaru?"

"Asuma-taichou..." Shikamaru replied, "if this is some sort of invasion, why are the ANBU stuck on evacuating and observing? Shouldn't they have taken the fight to our targets once we fought them off? They could be stronger, but this is our home turf..."

"What are you suggesting?"

"It could be an inside job, collusion, something," Team 10's resident analytical genius answered. "We've seen what Precia-san, Alicia, Tenten and Naruto can do with those weapons of theirs, and these guys seem a lot more experienced in handling and using them."

"I can imagine," Ino said. "All three of the girls had some sort of high-level mental shielding. Took me a reasonable amount of my reserves to get through to the long-haired one. Anyway, about that inside job you were saying, Shika... where's the mole? From our side or theirs?"

The Nara took several moments to assess the situation further before he made his answer. "Maybe both. These guys could rate a B or something in the Bingo Book - that girl who decked Chouji is definitely an A-ranker... if that's who we're up against, why isn't the ANBU backing us up? Unless..."

"Brilliant deduction, Shikamaru," Asuma answered, confirming Shikamaru's suspicion that this was indeed a trap set by Konohagakure. "All right, we're going to remain on standby barring any further unprovoked attacks on our ninja. If these guys dogpile Team 8, we're gonna be on them like gravy on barbecue."

Chouji shuddered at one of his sensei's most bizarre quirks - it was a heck of a lot worse than the Testarossas preferring ketchup on fried chicken.

"So we sit tight and wait for them to make a move?" Ino asked.

"They haven't pulled off anything that would warrant us going all-out... at least not yet."

Shikamaru grew steadily fearful at what the situation implied. _If we're strictly on the defensive, then they might have people who are on par with the Sannin... or better... which is why we're not attacking or using lethal force. These guys might retaliate accordingly if we wound or kill one of theirs._

And thus, Team 10 took to watching Team 8's back as they tried to keep another cadre of these unknown assailants busy...

_**Team 7**_

_Always the backside. If it's not the forehead, it's gotta be the backside._

One Haruno Sakura was muttering curses to herself as she dodged, ducked, dipped, dived and otherwise evaded those extremely annoying metallic spheres that went this way and that, forcing Team 7 on the defensive from the get-go.

It was already bad enough that a redheaded girl that looked around the age of Sarutobi Konohamaru was the one throwing those projectiles around.

What was worse when one of those things tagged Kiba in the chin, not only knocking him for a loop but also sending him flying several feet away - for a few moments, Sasuke had to fend for himself while she had to set the Inuzuka's broken jaw - thank whatever kami were watching over her that she got signed onto Hokage-sama's medic-nin program the moment Team 7 made chunin.

And to add literal insult to injury, the redhead seemed to be wholly insecure about her slight frame, leading her to derisively nickname Sakura the "Ass Monster".

_Oh, it's on. Nobody talks about my ass that way except for Sasuke-kun (and maybe Kiba when I feel like it)._

Sakura quickly focused on the redhead, aiming to throw her perception off just a little bit with a genjutsu... to no avail, and what was worse, her attempt had diverted most of the redhead's hostility onto her - wait, were those rabbits on her hat?

She bent backward sharply at the waist to avoid a hammer swing that would have knocked her silly, allowing Kiba to burst back into the fray, primed to spin as soon as their opponent used that strange shield technique of hers.

Not a moment too soon, the redhead backed up as a slash from Sasuke's sword went through the gap, narrowly avoiding his teammates in the practiced maneuver.

Undeterred by their teamwork, the girl named Vita came charging in again, this time with those flying spheres backing her up. As Sasuke's hands flashed through seals, the hidden message was clear: _frontal attack, flank on opposite sides, do not use Chidori._

He blocked the swing with his lightning chakra-reinforced sword long enough for his teammates to take to opposite sides and attack.

Unfortunately, their perfect timing had gone to waste as the redhead simply put up an omnidirectional barrier that deflected both the Gatsuuga and a chakra-laced punch that would have blasted Sakura's opponent into the horizon.

That was when the metallic spheres decided to make their comeback, smacking two of Team 7 in the face and torso, sending them to the floor.

Before they could follow up, though, Sasuke had fired off a shuriken-laced Housenka no Jutsu, dispelling the flying metallic balls.

"There's more where that came from," their opponent said, and Sasuke was now the object of her attack.

Meanwhile, Hatake Kakashi was mentally running through his list of ninja techniques that would take this bizarre fighter out of the picture.

The Copy-Nin was briefly reminded of his self-appointed rival Might Guy as this... Zafira person was on him with a strange taijutsu variant, those armored gauntlets reinforced with an energy similar to chakra.

_Let's see how those stand up to a direct shot._

Forming hand-seals, Kakashi feinted left, moved right, and lashed out with a combo of several blows that were blocked easily - but a pulse from his opponent's feet made him back up, throwing shuriken to cover his retreat. _He can sense Earth jutsu, so that's out of the picture._

A white symbol appeared from the man's feet, and chains bloomed to life, grabbing onto the Copy-Nin, only to end up gripping a log - Zafira turned around and saw the masked ninja charging at him.

He threw the knife-hand forward.

_Here we go._

It was a lazy block.

"Chidori Senkou!"

Lazy block it may be, but the armored gauntlets seemed to disperse the jutsu's power - Kakashi got a fist to the gut for his trouble, but not before he retaliated with a kick to his opponent's face.

"Pretty good," the man said, satisfaction lining his vulpine features.

Kakashi readied another kunai in his hand.

"You're pretty tough yourself."

And then they charged at each other again.

_**Fate Testarossa-Harlaown**_

"Teepo-san..."

"Yes, Alicia-san?"

"Even if I get hurt badly, please... do not interfere."

"As you wish, my lady."

The dark-blue whelp dragon took to one of the branches on its stubby wings before holding out a small "Go Alicia!" placard - an act that brought out a small smile on the face of both combatants.

It was one of the lulls in their combat - and as Fate carefully took in the details of her fight with her sister so far, she had the advantage of speed, but her sister had a wider arsenal.

After another exchange of strikes and ranged attacks, Fate stopped.

_She's moving just like I did in my fight with Nanoha, all those years ago._

_That can't be right._

Fate twisted in midair, expecting a volley of Ragna Bolts from where she dodged a wide glaive slash.

She executed a perfect turn - now avoiding a thrust that saw the fight leaving the realm of memory and going into unexpected territory - and countered seamlessly by casting a wide-arcing variant of the Plasma Lancer.

Alicia slashed and thrust at the hail of projectiles coming her way easily.

_**"Infinity Sword."**_

_Just as expected. Now, try this on for size!_

_**"Haken Saber."**_

The flying yellow blade of energy that was once the scythe tip of Bardiche came roaring at Fate's doppelganger, cutting through a hastily-applied shield spell that meant to dull the edge.

It saved Alicia from getting cut, but the impact of the projectile itself tore through the shield, her Barrier Jacket, dropping her into the ground.

_That's not going to keep her down for long. Nanoha needed to use Starlight Breaker against me._

To Fate's surprise, a rather beaten-up Alicia emerged from the crater her impact caused.

"Good. I thought you weren't taking this seriously, sister," Alicia coughed out before spitting out a glop of blood.

"...This means I don't have to worry about breaking you by fighting at my best!" Alicia said as she resummoned her Barrier Jacket, dashing skyward towards her opponent, Device pulsing with renewed fervor.

This time, it was Alicia who took the initiative in an atypical manner, going for the side approach, tracing a graceful curve...

...Fate blocked the first strike easily, but Alicia continued on her circular trajectory, moving even faster this time.

Again, another spinning strike came, but before Fate could activate the bind she had placed in wait, a royal blue magic circle appeared, surrounding her...

_**"Spell of Ruin."**_

The spell didn't actually do any damage, but it did briefly immobilize her for Alicia to follow up with another of the same swinging attack.

_A consecutive attack from the same approach? Inefficient - but her movement... she's using momentum!_

By the time Fate's thoughts had passed, Alicia was now a spinning whirlwind, battering at her Barrier Jacket with the glaive.

"Release!"

The telltale sign of raw mana being charged surged through the space between the two girls as Fate could hear the cartridge activating.

And then the shockwave came, blowing her from Alicia's binding spell, sending her flying a good distance away - it was only through sheer muscle memory that Fate was able to right herself and land cleanly.

_**"Glaive Tempest."**_

_That..._

"Not bad," Fate said, as she dusted herself off from the landing and noticed that her Barrier Jacket had several gaping holes in it courtesy of her sister's attack. "You're every bit as good as I remember seeing."

Alicia hung her head for awhile, and - was that a tear rolling down her face? - smiled sadly when she looked back. "And you're not too bad yourself. However..."

Both of them discarded their external Barrier Jackets; Fate phasing it off and Alicia stretching out and letting her own jacket fall off her shoulders. Giving each other grateful smiles because of their reunion and a chance to prove themselves to the other, they both changed the grip of their Devices to their dominant hand.

"I am not left-handed," Fate said.

"I am not right-handed," Alicia replied, almost in unison with her sister.

_**"Sonic Form,"**_ both Devices intoned.

_Here it comes, _one of the ANBU signed his partner, and both combatants disappeared in flashes of light, the battle once more resuming.

The shower of sparks that erupted from the collision of the two combat mages lit up the sky like a fireworks display, awing all who were privileged enough to witness it...

_**Team 8**_

The one with the fox ears and tail was a surprisingly good hand-to-hand combatant, matching one Mitarashi Anko blow for blow. She had stopped wielding her usual arsenal of poisons upon seeing that it didn't faze her opponent - _nobody should be able to shrug off poisons like that; this must be some kind of creature... youkai, perhaps?_

Anko was about to show what else she had under her sleeves, but ended up bound by some strange orange chains that appeared out of nowhere.

"Didn't know you were into that, too," she told the fox-eared woman, throwing her off a loop for a moment - which was all their girly teammate needed to swoop in and cut her bonds with a well-placed slash from his Ensui.

"Two on one?" the fox-girl asked before flaring out her power, keeping Anko and Haku at bay.

They gaped when the smoke cleared - what used to be a well-built young woman with fox ears and tail had now taken on the form of a large, fierce, orange fox.

_Kyuubi-lite, _Anko thought. "You have any ideas?"

"Got anything better than a kunai?" Haku asked. "This fox is going to tear you limb from limb if it catches you.

Anko twitched, and the beast was on her, roaring in rage. "I'm a wolf, not a fox!"

Thankfully, the special jonin managed to summon a ninjato in time to block a claw swipe that would have finished the fight quickly; the wolf twisted and spun backwards to avoid another swipe from the Ensui.

"If you can keep her busy, I've got a few jutsu that might work."

"Shit," Anko cursed. _Damned no-kill mission parameter._

Momochi Haku shrugged, remembering that it was exactly his sticking to non-lethal strikes that got him here in the first place - and the beating he took from an irate Alicia back then.

Nearby, a different but similarly pitched combat was taking place.

"Incoming!" yelled one Hyuuga Hinata as her teammate Aburame Shino did a textbook-perfect side dodge to avoid the mechanical fist coming his way.

_I was close to latching onto their medic with my kikai - I had a strain attuned to their strange kind of chakra._

_You'll get your chance, Shino-kun._

"Thanks, Subaru."

"No problem... my teammates need help."

"On it!"

The gears around the blue-haired girl's mechanical gauntlet began spinning as she eyed Hinata. Before either she or Shino could blink, the girl had closed the distance between them.

"Stand back!" Hinata shouted, her Byakugan activating on instinct.

_A Velkan Magic Circle? _Nakajima Subaru asked herself when she saw the symbols appear under the white-eyed girl's feet.

_That's not gonna stop me!_

She threw the punch, only for it to be stopped by a flurry of strikes.

She struck again, with the same result.

She was about to load a cartridge for her variation of the Divine Buster, but something screamed "Danger!" at her.

Haku fired off his Ensui-aided Sensatsu Suishou at the blue-haired girl, causing her to step back.

"Hinata! Now!" Haku shouted, and she cut the technique off and flashed forward, the girly Konoha chunin following suit.

In came the slashes that Subaru barely dodged, and the protective formation they made on Shamal for healing up Teana and Ginga was down to one.

_Only this guy left, _Hinata thought as she seamlessly converted her dash into a full-body tackle that pushed him backwards even before he could put up a shield.

Yuuno Scrya reeled from the simple pushing power of the strike, but that didn't stop him from casting one of his more powerful barriers, but it seemed the full-body tackle was a setup for a different move. The girl spun on her heels, gathered her energy in her palms, and readied to strike through the shield and hopefully the caster.

The first strike rocked Yuuno, and although the protective spell held, he could feel the sheer pressure of the blow bypassing the shield itself.

_Some sort of penetrative effect, made to ignore shields? _Yuuno thought, but the second strike itself nearly grazed him.

_How and when did my shield fail?_

The pale-eyed girl was on to him, veined eyes solid with intent, palms blazing with white fire...

...and then she hit nothing but air, her surprise providing a certain ferret the window of opportunity he needed to withdraw to a more comfortable distance.

By the time Hinata had regained her wits, her opponent had backed up several meters and was holding out his palm like she was, presumably to call on a stronger shield to cover his teammates.

_**Precia Testarossa**_

"For so long, I've been keeping this in."

A clash of weaponry.

"How would someone... throw someone away like that, doom her to a pained existence?"

Precia could not - would not answer, as the years they spent traveling had her daughter Alicia succeeding in getting her to consider Fate as her daughter as well. Normally, she would have relented or thought of Fate as a twin of sorts to Alicia - but her daughter would have none of that.

"Whatever you've done to her, Fate's still part of the family - wherever she may be," Alicia had said back then, and it was here that she was made to understand by her daughter cutting to the heart of the issue in as few words as she could.

"Times may have changed, but what I've said can't be undone..."

"If there was a chance to do right by our family, would you, Mother?"

Precia looked at her daughter and wistfully nodded. "You never saw what I'd do to her."

"Whether I did or not doesn't matter," Alicia replied. "What matters is that Fate is Fate. Just like I am Alicia."

"You were her family!" the brunette roared out in rage, a flurry of pink projectiles flying towards Precia as they carried on their battle in the skies above Konohagakure.

Takamachi Nanoha saw her opponent do a counterattack she didn't predict - not only was Precia flying forward with her sword drawn, the projectiles that were going after her were simply deflected; as they corrected their flight patterns, the shots from her Accel Shooter would probably hit her if Precia changed her direction at the last moment.

_Not bloody likely, _Nanoha thought as she was figuring out something to counter this approach, moving laterally herself to avoid friendly fire.

_Have some of your own kind of fighting, _she added, stopping as she already had a plan to disorient the S-rank criminal, and anticipating the Accel Shooters crashing into her.

And collide with her they did, Precia grinning as the brunette was easily hoisted on her own petard. _That's gotta hurt._

Still, it gave the former scientist a shock to see that what used to be the Takamachi girl was now a charred log. She never had a chance to figure out how a TSAB mage knew a Konoha technique when pink lights sped past her point of view, and just at the moment she spun around...

_**"Divine..."**_

"Hrist, emergency cartridge load!" Precia shouted.

_**"Roger."**_

_**"...Buster!"**_

The speeding beam was heading towards the Hokage Mountain - though she knew that a Mid-Childa bombardment attack had no lethal effects, falling rocks from a collapsing civilian shelter certainly was.

_**"Floating Cherry Blossoms."**_

She held Hrist in a two handed grip and actually swung at the beam, successfully cleaving it in two. the energy released by the technique continuing to do so, diverting the two beams away from the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

The TSAB mage looked a bit astonished at that - both of them could have followed up these attacks, but apparently, something else was in the mix.

_**"Wide Area Search completed."**_

_**Civilian areas were in the firing path. Corrections would not have been made in time, considering target speed. **_

_Thank you, Raising Heart._

"Looks like you're not the Precia Testarossa we were sent here to apprehend," Nanoha said, just as her Device let out a jet of exhaust from its ports.

"A sudden change of heart? What brought this on?" Precia asked, still holding Hrist at the ready even though Nanoha could see that the sword's tip was beginning to shake, a sign her opponent was beginning to be fatigued.

"Why... why get in the way?"

"I owe this place for my second chance," Precia simply said. "And in return, I fight for it."

Nanoha understood, and actually smiled at that - as if it was an affirmation of just why everything here seemed topsy-turvy. "Where I work for... we kind of specialize in giving others second chances, actually."

Both of them shared a small laugh before Precia hefted her Device once more.

"Now, where were we?"

Nanoha dashed in, used Flash Move to flank her opponent, and swung the staff - but Precia still managed to block it.

"You were losing."

Precia grinned.

_**Erio Mondial and Caro ru Lushe**_

"Where's Fried?" Caro ru Lushe asked as she and her teammate Erio Mondial were staring down a trio of deadly sword-toting ninja.

"Taking on the bandanna guy. Can't fly, the guy's been messing up the air currents Fried latches on."

"Thank goodness," Caro answered. "Fried's holding his own so far. What's that strange look on your face for, anyway?"

_Must not tell her about how that kid with a bandanna used a transformation technique to copy her likeness._

"You were in a bit of a bind against two. With me around, the odds are much better."

"You're right," the pinkette said, readying her Device. "Plus, if worst comes to worst, there's always Voltaire."

"If we play this right, there won't be a need for that," Erio said, holding up Strada in a hard stance as the three ninjas closed in.

Explosions filled the training grounds as their battle continued...

_**Uzumaki Naruto**_

It all boiled down to this sequence - and right now, Uzumaki Naruto was at a tremendous disadvantage.

Never mind the fact that those three years he spent training with the Toad Sage also included what the spirit of his Armed Device euphemistically called **"precision training"**.

Precision training was basically "don't get yourself gutted, stabbed or slashed open in the mindscape by my daggers", and many of Naruto's waking hours were filled with psychosomatic aches and pains from where he was struck, stabbed, slashed, or otherwise beat up with Lass' daggers.

He knew that his Device was good with knives, but this... this wasn't just expertise. This was absolute mastery, almost as if the daggers Lass worked with were extensions of his being.

For the love of most of the kami, he spent one year and a half training just on evasion and defense; by the time he was allowed to train with dual daggers on offense (kunai were good in a pinch, but the fact that it was double-edged made it much harder to defend with, so said the Silver Cross guildmaster), its results had spoken for itself when Naruto was assessed by a wizened toad in Mount Myoboku.

Naruto couldn't learn the Toad Fist style in its entirety anymore, because he had internalized the Silver Cross style to just a shade below a hundred per cent.

A hundred freaking percent, and all he did was save his own ass from getting gutted?

He did take the few lessons in the Toad Fist style that would not interfere with what was now his primary combat approach, but it took one three-on-one "sparring session" in the mindscape with Lass, Ronan Erudon and Elesis to rein in Naruto's rapidly growing ego (read: beat Naruto's swelling head back to normal size); and another scuffle on the run to impress upon the young Uzumaki that building upon his combat style was a lot easier said than done.

That last mission, the one where Naruto got into and out of that bandit stronghold with just five shuriken, two kunai and only three Academy jutsu at his disposal?

Naruto lied. He brought along two daggers for the ride, at his Device's suggestion - and it had worked out well enough.

But despite all that training and its incidental benefits, Naruto was still in a bad way. The better he fought, the more this Signum woman seemed to somehow stay just a bit faster, just a bit stronger, just a bit more skillful than him - and her Knight Armor provided better defense, too.

He was about to slip up from frustration, but Lass was there to remind him that he was holding his own against what was essentially a combat-specialized AI system given flesh and blood.

Until now, when after he had exhausted everything he could and then some, the swordswoman still wouldn't go down.

"I haven't had as much fun in quite some time fighting you - and the last time I enjoyed myself was that spar with Takamachi - Levantine, Schlangenform," Signum began as that sword of hers quickly changed form into a bladed whip.

_She's thinking this is some kind of spar? _Naruto thought, both aghast and angry at what it implied.

"However, the time for playing is past," she said, and flame traveled all across the links of the bladed whip.

And then she swung at Naruto, who barely parried it by extending the chains bound around his left arm and striking back in a similar manner.

He broke off to the side, and Signum followed, cracking the flaming whip, careful to maintain a calm face as her opponent was steadily losing ground.

Naruto thought he could simply let the flames die down by guarding the worst of the whip and flame-based attacks with his Sealing Chain, but by the time a lucky shot backed Naruto into something sharp, the boy knew he was dead meat unless he could pull a miracle out of the proverbial hat.

Without leaving his eyes off the swordswoman, he used his peripheral vision to check that yes, those flaming whip strikes he dodged were actually meant to trap him in a prison of jagged, smoldering blades. As he silently cursed himself for being so into the fight that he forgot his bearings, his Armed and Unison Devices were quick to begin figuring out a way from this predicament.

_**Let's have our boy use that move.**_

_**He hasn't actually used it in battle, only in simulation - and he wasn't this exhausted then.**_

_**Does it look like we have a choice? I'll have you relay the specifics to him while I load the cartridges.**_

_**Very well.**_

"I have you right where I want you," Signum intoned. "Levantine!"

The purple whip-sword glowed ominously before acknowledging her command.

_**"Explosion!"**_

_**Naruto.**_

_I'm going to try and brute-force my way through the side I see to be the weakest._

_**Good choice of strategy, but your foe already thought of that. She'll be waiting to hack your head off from the obvious opening.**_

_And we'll just get barbecued by the incoming attack?_

_**No, we still have a way. Remember that move I taught you?**_

_Oh. Right. But I..._

_**Look, don't worry, we're going to do this as one.**_

_**You only have one chance to get out of this intact. On my mark.**_

Naruto got into an unorthodox stance, letting his Device mold him to the perfect spot to execute their last-ditch counter.

"Hiryuu Issen."

The epicenter of the bladed prison shortly became a howling inferno, but before Signum could give the order to fire, she heard her opponent and his Device shout out as one...

_**"Raven Walker!"**_

Within the flames, Signum could see Naruto releasing enchanted kunai in all directions as he spun. She didn't hesitate in shooting as soon as she could, and was surprised by the explosions that rocked the training field.

"Impossible..."

_**Alicia Testarossa**_

_So... this is what it's like battling an S-Rank mage, _Alicia Testarossa thought as she was slowly but surely losing the fight with her sister.

If she thought battling her mother was hair-pulling difficult (even now) and that guy from Kumo almost got her to drain her Linker Core and chakra coils to near-lethal levels, this was another thing entirely.

She even got her mother to up her training regimen after that incident - but against someone like Fate, it all seemed futile.

And now, their contest was reaching its end, with Alicia struggling to lift the broadsword that was Siegfried's Aegis Form, the buckler that was the Form's shield cracked and chipped from repeated assault from Bardiche's Riot Zanber form.

_First you... and then I'm going after Precia._

Alicia's eyes widened.

_No._

_You don't know what Mother has been through._

_You don't know what I've been through._

_If you get to her, then I've failed Konoha, I've failed Mother..._

_...and I've failed you._

_You... you need to know._

_You need to know that even after all this, we're still your family._

The runes engraved along the broadsword began to glow a brilliant blue.

Fate raised the melded sword over her head, ready to strike the source of her hardship out.

_I'll stake everything on this single blow. All or nothing._

Alicia raised herself up for what was perhaps her final strike.

_Please..._

Fate gasped as she saw power flare from her sister, taking on the form of two ethereal wings.

_**...feel me!**_

Siegfried's voice shattered the moment right before Fate brought Bardiche down.

_**"BLAME BUSTER."**_

A massive flare of light spread outward, blinding everyone in a large radius...

_**Senju Tsunade**_

The Fifth Hokage's office was very much the eye of the storm, in spite of the conflict brewing outside.

"Hmm, well, that does put a twist into things. Your target is, after all, one of my best jonin - and has been doing wonders in teaching at the Academy."

She tapped the table nonchalantly and took a sip of sake, looking every bit defocused as she stared into the horizon, where a heated battle on multiple fronts was taking place.

"So what would you propose? We can't exactly come to an agreement here... not exactly, as soon as I succeeded my old sensei, all the records of her... crimes were accurately put here. Really? They check out? Well, there's still hope for this crisis to be averted, then..."

Another sip, and Tsunade remembered that little meeting with Terumi Mei.

"How about this: you hire us as independent contractors, and we'll keep your 'criminal' on probation with a workload large enough for her to have no time to make any other mischief, if she was so inclined?"

"Really? That's great. And your explanation to your people... hmm, no, that's kind of thin; how about a joint training exercise under controlled conditions, something like your... simulations?"

The sound of a doorknob turning brought her back from her reverie.

"Call you later."

In poked the head of her assistant Shizune...

"Tsunade-sama, is anything the matter?"

She swung around towards her apprentice. "Not really, you just interrupted me taking a break."

"Taking a break? When everything here's going to hell in a handbasket?" Shizune asked, nearly panicking.

The Fifth Hokage merely shrugged. "Sigh... my dear apprentice, sometimes you have to see what's going on behind the scenes before you start flipping out like that. Otherwise, Sakura might overshadow you completely - she's already breaking even with you, you know."

She had to hide a grin as her apprentice-slash-assistant pouted rather cutely at that barb. "Anyway, I might be taking the field pretty soon. Where is the Toad Sage now?"

"He's... currently indisposed."

_Probably at the hot springs or eye-balling the competition,_ she thought. "See if he can hold the fort here for when I step out."

"But if he doesn't want to be found..."

"...then take several ANBU with you and drag his perverted ass here, if need be."

"Yes, Tsunade-sama!"

As the brunette shut the door behind her, Tsunade had to suppress a smirk. _I hope you know what you're doing, otherwise all this would be for naught... now, on to watching the fight - I wonder how the Testarossas are doing?_

_**Otsuka Hikaru**_

"You have made progress in controlling your bloodline, child."

"I have, but it's still a long way to go - I thought I could handle myself in the fight against Dark Armon, but I was quickly rendered useless."

"Not completely. Your willpower held, which means you have a foundation by which you can focus your bloodline-based powers on. When that is reached, you can also transform to a Nephilim."

"But I can only transform to a wolf at this moment."

"Think nothing of it; you're just beginning to learn the arts of the Crescent. Tell me, do you remember anything about using a radial pulse of chakra to dispel what you call genjutsu?"

"Vaguely..." Hikaru replied. "Radial - but that would mean I can also use Dark Armon's move?"

"Yes, it is an identical attack to the one the Fallen Servant used."

"And to do that, I have to attain the prerequisites here?"

"That's right. It is a technique which I can teach you, too - not only will this pulse dispel genjutsu, but the pulse itself is smart - it won't hit your allies but will wreak havoc on your enemies, blowing them back."

The Kusa kunoichi stood up and hefted the double-bladed crescent blade, going into her fighting stance again.

"If you are ready, then let us begin," the other woman answered, and went at Hikaru, her own weapon gleaming in the pale light of the sanctum, "time is of the essence; your role here is greater than you can imagine, Hikaru."

_**Signum**_

The boy's last-minute counterattack had not only nullified one of her best attacks... the returning memories of her clashes with the Silver Cross Guildmaster revealed that this last move was one of Lass' favorite techniques.

"You continue to surprise me... but this is over. You can't fight any longer - your Linker Core is exhausted," she said, bringing her Device back to Sword Form.

Meanwhile, it took everything and then some for the boy to keep standing, as what the swordswoman said was true - his Linker Core had been used to an extent he never knew possible.

"Why do you keep fighting... even when all is lost?"

"Not all of it," Naruto said with a grin. "Like I told my colleague a long time ago..."

_Guess we've got no choice. It's time to try that._

_**Are you insane? Your Linker Core has been put through a lot of stress, if you mess this one up, you could very well die.**_

_I'm not going to die. There are things I have to do, people I have to protect. You'll have to trust me, guys. We've trained together for when something like this happens._

_**Okay. We haven't actually tested this outside your mindscape, but it should work if all goes to plan.**_

_**Indeed. We're going to start at one percent.**_

_Sounds good. Let's go._

"...I never run out of tricks."

A haze of power flared around Naruto as he braced himself to tap onto the purified essence of chakra that was his task to keep sealed within him, and gave the code word to unleash it.

_**"Unison."**_

_Directive accepted. Commencing Unison._

A huge flash of orange chakra from the boy nearly knocked the Wolkenritter off her feet.

_"This is Lightning 2. Requesting immediate backup of Unison Device Agito. I repeat, requesting immediate Unison Device backup, over," _she conveyed to Mission Control as soon as she saw the orange Ancient Velkan runes spring to life at the boy's feet.

_**Sieghart the Highlander**_

There was a place in Kusagakure that had been named the "Marsh of Oblivion" since time immemorial... and this was where Sieghart the Immortal Highlander and his apprentice Tsuchi Kin were currently camped out, a third of the way into their little training trip.

In fact, to get the girl to be in good enough shape for utilizing her Device Scheherazade's various combat forms, he had been subjecting her to combat training that would not be lost to someone like, say, Kimimaro Kaguya.

But that wasn't on Sieghart's mind as of now, because he had his Device out in its Combat Mode, trading aura-laced slashes with the famous Devilhand of Iwagakure - Murasaki Rekka.

It was clear as crystal to both combatants that this was strictly a fight for show - still, Sieghart wanted to make sure to make it as real as possible to throw off the fact that he had one of Iwagakure's youngest jonin as one of his informants.

The Stygian reaper's edge clanged loudly with the halberd Sieghart held with his left, and the Iwa-nin backpedaled quickly to avoid the stab from the knife the Highlander gripped on his right.

"Nice," the purple-haired jonin said at the sequence.

"Your team's probably getting out of earshot in five minutes... what say you we step this up a bit before we talk shop?"

"All of that, and your charming little apprentice hasn't awoken?"

Sieghart smirked. "Not with the kind of training regimen I put her through."

Rekka dashed in, morphing the reaper's edge into a massive broadsword, which his opponent responded to with a quick switch to the massive Solluna.

"Bastard," the Iwa-nin said as their weapons clashed.

"True, but at least I'm not an utter bastard," Sieghart replied, smiling as his opponent jumped away from his wide swing.

_**Targets are out of sensory range.**_

Upon B4U's signal, both fighters stood down, lowering their weapons as the tension slowly dissipated.

"So," Sieghart began, "what have you got?"

"Increased Akatsuki activity around areas with little to no reports of jinchuriki activity. We had a security breach on our jinchuriki - but the Akatsuki never came, though the timing window would have been perfect for a snatch-and-grab. Your hunch was right," Rekka said.

"Not completely..." Sieghart replied. "There's a discrete link between Akatsuki and whoever the person behind the leak I stopped some time back was - sniffing it out AND putting it together was another reason the Otokage had me drag my lazy ass all the way out here."

"If you're looking for a link, here's a juicy one - the Tsuchikage's been itching for a war with Leaf. The moment he finds even half an excuse, we're moving in."

Sieghart blanched. "So soon?"

"By orders, we'll be mobilizing quickly. I was intending to scout out that floating mass of land near Demon Country they call Xenia Frontier, but apparently... the Tsuchikage's caprices take priority. Expect exploratory attacks on Kusa and Taki in the next few months, and Oto after that."

"Why?"

"We don't know. I can only guess that it's because apparently, the rumors of the Fourth Hokage's death were heavily exaggerated. Rumor even has it that the Yellow Flash himself put an end to the Bloody Mist."

The Highlander shrugged; based on his information, he knew exactly who the Devilhand was referring to. "Not only is that a flimsy excuse for another ninja world war... but what in the seven hells is that old bastard thinking?" Sieghart asked to no one in particular. "With a lot going on behind the scenes, he should be worrying about the future, not some worn-out grudge from the past. Also... this timing is too suspicious. Kumo's daimyo and the previous Raikage had signs that they were being manipulated by someone or something, but were killed before I could put my investigating together. All the pieces are in front of me... but I somehow can't seem to put it together... dammit."

"I can understand your urgency," Rekka said, nodding. "A musty taint permeates the air from here to Iwa - as if old, ancient things are coming to life soon. I can guess that within a short time, something big's going down - so big that what the old bastard's planning is gonna look like an Academy spar."

Sieghart grunted. "Seems like it... keep your eyes open, then."

"So do you. My Master sends his regards."

"Tell him it's gonna be a real barn-burner soon."

"That I will, Highlander... that I will."

With a nod and with a flash of black lightning, the Iwa-nin left in a variant of the Shunshin, leaving Sieghart to his thoughts.

_**Chrono Harlaown**_

"This... this is..."

The preliminary reports given by Riot Force 6 had not prepared them for what came. Konohagakure, instead of being cowed by the power of their operatives into stunned silence, fought back.

Fight back they did, with powers similar to Devices, teamwork on par with their best operatives... and they **knew **how to fight mages.

This was probably because Precia Testarossa was fundamentally a person of knowledge - who could not help but share what she knew to those around her.

Chrono could not find fault with this, but... this was just supposed to be a routine operation. Who knew that this would happen?

Unless...

The TSAB Admiral's mind was racing a mile a minute as he went through the list of things he had to hurdle before implementing this operation.

_Clearance from Director Gracia._

_Requisition forms for an Asura-class and equipment for my operatives._

_Where would the leak come from, then? Admiral Graham is gone. Mother is taking a vacation... that leaves the Director and I, but that would mean..._

His thoughts came to a complete and grinding halt when Amy let out a warning.

"Stars 2 has been injured! Lieutenant Colonel Yagami has taken the field!"

_This couldn't get any worse..._

_**Uchiha Sasuke**_

By this time, the man with wolf ears was out of the fight - unfortunately, so was Kakashi-sensei. Sasuke couldn't count on his sensei here and now, but that was all right. Their opponents were formidable, especially the girl - no, young woman armed with that blasted hammer. It took Kiba and Sakura everything they had to keep up with her - and then some, and it still wasn't enough.

The redhead was still going strong - going on her second wind by the time Team 7 had tapped on their third and/or fourth wind now.

"You guys are starting to annoy me with your persistence," the redhead answered. "Eisen, let's finish this! Gigantform!"

The Uchiha had turned off his Sharingan for his final counterattack, but it looked like he was going to have to use it now, as the hammer the girl was wielding suddenly looked several sizes larger in magnitude. Looked? No, that wasn't a trick of the eyes - the hammer really was growing larger!

He looked back towards where his teammates were, and saw that even if he did take the fight to the redhead, the shockwave generated by a hammer that large would probably result in grievous injuries or worse - which meant he had to take a stand right here and now.

_I refuse to die here._

_Not until I find my answers._

_You won't kill me... and you won't kill them._

Making his decision, the red blades in a black field within Uchiha Sasuke's irises began spinning as his Mangekyo Sharingan blazed to life.

_**"GIGANT CRUSHER!"**_ the hammer cried out as the girl swung down.

The force of the blow sent waves billowing out from the point of impact, blowing branches away and causing general mayhem in the immediate vicinity. Since this was one of the largest training grounds available in Konohagakure, damage to the village itself was minimal.

Nobody had that on their mind as it was the Iron Hammer Knight Vita's turn to be surprised, as a large purple hand was grabbing onto the business end of Graf Eisen, blocking her attack.

"I told you. It will take more than that to take someone like me down," Sasuke replied, his right arm wreathed with a flaring purple glow that took on a similar shape, blocking the attack.

"Won't stay down, eh?" Vita asked, pulling Graf Eisen up and back into its usual form. _Impossible - this duckbutt-haired pretty boy should be sucking wind by now - he's actually gotten me to expend my cartridge supply. Still... I'm not giving up!_

"In that case... I'm going to hit you harder!"

"The trouble with something like that..." her opponent replied before flashing to the side, probably aiming to attack from the flank, "is that it's nothing serious..."

That got Sasuke's opponent to flare out in anger, switching that large hammer to its former size before going off on an attack approach of her own. He saw the swing coming with the Sharingan eyes, and already planned to roll with the incoming hit to get in close to the girl and maybe land a hit of his own.

The hammer swing - as he predicted - came spinning towards him from the right. Gritting his teeth as he closed in, Sasuke directed half of whatever chakra remaining to his right arm to reinforce it from the oncoming blow.

Impact came, jarring the Uchiha as he blocked the hammer strike with what appeared to be his elbow. He didn't have time to grunt in pain, as he took the chance he got from that split-second to flow with the swing and adjust his angle of approach.

In a moment, the redhead's vision was filled with Uchiha Sasuke's blank expression. "...if it doesn't hit you."

He threw a left hook that was laced with what remained of the chakra in his other arm, and as he connected, he couldn't believe how straightforward this was. No genjutsu, special tricks, or extended use of the Mangekyo as he originally thought.

"Vita!" yelled the wolf-man as Sasuke felt something give, the punch he threw finding its mark...

_**Unknown Location**_

"...Itachi."

"Yes, Kisame?" asked the rogue Leaf-nin as he opened his eyes from his meditation.

"We got orders. Several targets in Fire Country. Low-profile insertion. We're expected to make it there in three days."

The Uchiha breathed out a sigh as he eased himself from his meditative seating position. "We'll get there in two then scope out with the time we saved - then we'll strike."

"You think it's already activated, have you?"

"I think... whoever Leader-sama planned put us up against is most likely going to rain on our parade in the near future... hence the need for haste."

"Got everything here," the rogue Mist-nin answered, chuckling as he held out a case of storage scrolls.

"Great," Itachi said.

"Being always ready for anything is a lesson I learned as a genin in Kirigakure," Kisame answered, tossing another case to his fellow Akatsuki. "Here's yours... uh-uh-uh, Leader-sama told me not to pack you any of that sweet. You'll have a box on nothing less than a resounding success."

"Hn," Itachi answered, stashing the scroll case in the belt pouch underneath his cloak, "apparently, they want this done **that** badly."

"Indeed they do," Kisame said, "enough for them to put up Operation Smokescreen a full month earlier than the original plan."

"Odd," Itachi remarked as he donned the straw hat. "Anyway, let's go. We're burning daylight."

The sharklike ninja nodded to his colleague, and in mere moments, the safehouse was empty, with not a trace of their inhabitants left behind.

_**Yagami Hayate**_

Her eyes popped open in recognition and apprehension.

_Vita-chan's been incapacitated._

Memories began returning to her as she gripped her staff even tighter, her Unison Device watching her strangely as her expression steadily grew more grave.

_She was helplessly on the roof, unable to do anything, and as she glanced around, she saw the coats she had bought for her family laying still, flapping in the winter wind..._

_She heard them say, "it's time for the last one," and as she shifted her gaze skyward, she saw the smallest one of her family being drawn up to finish the ritual..._

Hayate's eyes opened, and in mere moments, she had made up her mind.

_Chrono would not cry at what happened. Neither did his mother, as Admiral Lindy had already shed all the tears she could for him._

_Neither did her Knights._

_Maybe she was the only one here who had a real connection to the man being buried today... that, and his contract with his two familiars the strangest thing he had ever bequeathed her..._

_**No more tears will be shed for this.**_

_**Not from my family.**_

Before anyone could blink, Yagami Hayate finally took to the field of battle.

_**Signum**_

In Signum's long existence as a Cloud Knight, there were very few things that could surprise her.

This was one of them.

She thought that last use of the Cartridge System had rendered the boy unable to use spells further, but a second, orange Velka-type magic circle blooming to life under his feet proved otherwise.

There was a flash of light, and as it subsided, Signum's opponent emerged - his blue eyes locking onto hers.

The swordswoman gasped as he stepped through the mana-based smoke triggered by the transformation sequence, his Knight Armor now a jet-black bodysuit with gun-metal gray accessories. A mask covered the lower part of his face, and a black scarf trimmed with orange fluttered in the breeze, displaying the symbols of his allegiance.

_**"Unison successful."**_

Naruto held out his left hand and grasped onto a sheathed longsword that materialized on his command.

_What is this? _Signum asked herself with rapidly growing horror. _Knights are not supposed to activate Unison when their mana levels are low, but... this is... the Unison... a controller-type?_

_**"It's not freedom... but it's the next closest thing. Stand down, Cloud Knight. You will explain this attack on your own volition or have it extracted from you by force. Your choice," **_the Unisoned Naruto said as he slid into a _battoujutsu _stance, right hand hovering over the hilt of his Device.

_"Lightning 2 here, why has my backup not arrived yet?" _Signum asked telepathically, and the response stopped her in her tracks.

_"Hayate's arriving in three... two... one."_

Unisoned Naruto's charge stopped completely in its tracks as a new presence made itself known in Konoha.

_**"GAAAHHHH!"**_

What was once Naruto's ace-in-the-hole turned on him completely, as the mere arriving presence of someone or something was enough to not only send Signum shuddering, but that power backlash caused the volatile mix that was a Unisoned Naruto and Reynardine to go haywire completely - the former Nine-Tailed Demon Fox had to switch off the Unison lest either one of them take catastrophic damage from the feedback.

Mana and chakra flowed this way and that through Naruto's system, intermingling in potentially corrosive and painful ways, causing the boy to scream in agony for several moments before his Devices and the seal restored order within him.

To his credit, he remained standing through the worst of the pain, only reeling backward. And as Naruto feebly put up his arms to try and defend himself, only to see that his opponent had not taken this opportunity to attack, instead turning towards the source of the massive disturbance.

"W-what's going on?" Naruto asked, once the worst of the pain receded.

"Damn. You wasted too much of my time," Signum explained. "Vita's been hit, Mistress Hayate has come here, and based on what I sense from her..."

The Cloud Knight's next few words nearly stopped Naruto's heart.

"...She's probably going to retaliate in kind."

That brought his second second wind, and as he tried to get himself going again, Uzumaki Naruto asked a question. "You're going to try and stop her? Your Mistress?"

"I don't know if I can," the swordswoman said, and Naruto immediately understood.

"You've got to try," Naruto said, grimacing in pain as he drew on what little magic remained in his Linker Core to put up a basic Knight Armor.

"You're not in any condition to keep going!"

He shook his head.

"If there's anything that will endanger the people precious to me... I will stop them..." Uzumaki Naruto said, his eyes hardening before he turned towards the source of that intense power and flew right towards it, "...or die trying."

_With what Mistress Hayate's mere presence did to his magical abilities, she's going to grind him into paste. I have to stop this foolish boy!_ Signum thought as she quickly followed suit.

All throughout, combat quickly ground to a halt as even the genin could feel that sense of dread, foreboding, and raw power that had quickly arrived in their midst, as if the apocalypse had come early.

_**Vita**_

The dark-haired boy walked ever so slowly towards her, lightning crackling off the fingertips of his hand.

_That was one hell of a lucky shot, _the girl thought. _Oh, and that purple energy felt so similar to one of Nanoha's Buster attacks hit me..._

_...why can't I talk?_

_For that matter... why can't I move my hand?_

The boy slowly edged closer to her.

_It's cold._

She could look into his eyes now, despite her vision swimming, and could make out three red blades slowly spinning within black irises. His expression was oddly blank as he reared his energy-laced hand back for what she knew was the finishing blow.

_It's going to end now._

_Maybe I should have said something._

_Or done something._

_It's not relevant now, anyway._

_I fought to the best of my ability..._

_Hayate-chan..._

She sensed him hesitating as he stopped, the purple lightning slowly dissipating as he seemed to decide that it was a better thing to keep her alive - take her prisoner - something.

Horror washed over the girl.

_Not again..._

And just as quickly, sweet relief flowed through her as black feathers began to fall down her field of vision. Before she finally went unconscious, Vita swore she could hear the voice of her Mistress, calling out her name...

* * *

Chapter Six - **END**

**author's notes:**

My sincerest apology to any and all Vita fans who read this chapter; I love Vita too... but she will get a chance to show off in the next few chapters - I promise. Not only did she get the bad end of the matchup stick against Sasuke (who is both faster and has the Sharingan's near-precognitive ability), the reports seemed to indicate that this would be an easy mission for RF6.

Lass' "precision training" was gleaned from BukkakeNoJutsu's "Lessons of Experience" - give it a shot, it's an epic read.

Cookie to whoever correctly guesses which Grand Chase character Murasaki Rekka is apprenticed to. This also foreshadows one reason why a certain four-man cell isn't in Konoha at this particular time.

Speaking of which, I really should get Sieghart to say "There can be only one!" sometime in the future. And, in the spirit of the Nanoha franchise, loads more SRW references.

Also, Arcane Heart and Twin Fates really need the power of a beta reader - there are a lot of story flow and characterization mistakes I let slip by. Anyone up to the task can message me.

Nanoha knows Tsubame Gaeshi because of her parents and siblings' martial arts techniques. She knows it when she sees it, but

p.s. writing this in wordpad usually ends up taking 70-75kb worth of space. also, the spelling of "Ancient Velka" is a stylistic choice.

p.p.s. Alicia is ambidextreous, but you won't see her saying that every couple chapters, unlike a certain Gundam protagonist. Also, Rekka's bio will come next chapter.


	7. Stars, Lightning and Leaves, Part 3

_disclaimer_: naruto = kishimoto; nanoha = seven arcs; grand chase = kog

_foreword:_ long, long delay, but I'm going to try and get back in the writing groove to get the updates flowing faster. also, computer screw-up destroyed my Arcane Heart rewrites of chapters 5 to 8, so there's working on that AND Moeagare Toushi's next chapter, so...

...and Team Fortress 2 was made free-to-play, so...

...not to mention playing through Billy vs. SNAKEMAN...

...anyway, that's no excuse, just an explanation as to why I took too long. Just read on and enjoy.

**Warning for incoming Yagami Hayate hijinks!**

Once again... **boldface **is for jutsu and emphatic speech, _italics _are for thoughts, _**bold/italics **_are Device or bijuu talking.

* * *

_The raised blade sharply cleaves tomorrow open..._

_...but whatever the guarantee, nothing is what it seems!_

* * *

_**Naruto: Twin Fates**_

**Chapter Seven: Stars, Lightning and Leaves 3: The Aftermath**

* * *

_She's avoiding me... with good cause._

Precia Testarossa spent a sleepless night thinking about her daughter.

Make that... daughters.

Fate had returned, it seemed - and had made contact with Alicia.

The Toad Sage said that even though the seven-point Spiral Matrix had long since dispelled, Alicia had built up a resistance to the memory blocking in a very unique way - during one of his routine assessments of Alicia's seal, he found out that a rarely-used subroutine activated, allowing the girl to shunt off the memory backwash by sending it to her dreamscape.

It smacked of the simplicity of genius, if you asked Jiraiya.

_Maybe that's why Alicia's become indifferent._

_She still... loves me as her mother... but she wants something from me I cannot give her... until today._

_She wants Fate to be part of the family again..._

_And now, I'm both ecstatic at the chance to make things right and mortified that Fate will... hate me._

_Come to think of it, all this seemed too simple._

That woman from the Bureau came along, straightened out what she called a misunderstanding _(ha! A misunderstanding that came with Devices, combat cyborgs, familiars and the infamous Wolkenritter? Please.) _and dropped the bombshell that Konohagakure as a whole had been hired by the Time-Space Administration Bureau for the purpose of searching for a set of dangerous and very powerful artifacts.

Of course Precia would be stuck in Konoha teaching the remedial genin and offering whatever information she could on this very risky and politically treacherous set of missions _(goodness knows what else would happen if I took to the field, _Precia thought_)_.

Not to mention the fact that she'd be put under surveillance by one of said Wolkenritter to see if she really was on the stable side now.

_Oh, well. I spent four years here under ANBU supervision, what's a few more sentient magical fighting machines going to do?_

She sighed when she thought about the past; she had been in the shoes of that man before, and whereas she had a second chance... this one... didn't, and died in her arms because of it.

Maybe that's why she was thinking about accepting the Hokage's appointment to head a revamped version of Councilman Shimura's ROOT division - as he always used to say, "the leaves may flourish in the sunlight, but the roots keep the tree stable in the shadows".

Perhaps it would work, perhaps it might not.

Why the hell not? After all, she'd seen the Councilman's mistakes and her own. She wouldn't stumble down that road again. Not when all eyes were on her at this point.

Sighing, she spent her sleepless hours writing down lesson plans for the remedial genin. After all these weeks, they still didn't find the link between book learning and practical learning...

* * *

_So... this feeling..._

Uchiha Sasuke was currently locked in an epic staredown contest with the new arrival after knocking out that strange redhead with yet another lucky shot - something that was quickly becoming a trademark of his. Even if the shinobi handbook did say that it didn't matter if the race is won by an inch or a mile, pulling out victory from those strange opponents was not without its attendant costs, as both his teammates were out of the fight and Kakashi-sensei was inapacitated from battling that man with wolf ears to a standstill.

He thought everything was just as peachy as the unexpected can be, but when the pale-haired young woman with the book, the black wings, and the staff appeared...

_...I can't move._

...everything changed.

The aura of pure power the woman possessed froze him in his tracks, and he didn't even feel the familiar buzzing behind his eyes whenever the Sharingan activated. He opened his mouth, but neither words nor sounds would come out.

_This... this isn't fear._

Unlike that time when his Mangekyo _(should I still call it the Mangekyo after those months in Spring Country?)_ awakened, there were no thoughts of impending mortality and the regret that the vengeance of the clan would not be personally delivered.

It was as if there was nothing... nothing but the young woman standing before him.

A gust of wind passed, sending black feathers drifting towards him.

_More like... staring the Shinigami itself in the face. It's... inevitable..._

"This is Leader 2. Prepare a return warp... for Stars 2 and Knight 1," the young woman announced. For someone who carried around enough power to nearly flatten him under the pressure, she had an unexpectedly ethereal - if oddly accented - voice.

As she pointed the ornamental end of her staff at him, Sasuke's training took over. His hands flashed through seals, the sound of chirping beginning once more as he completed the sequence for his team's trademark technique.

Moments passed between the Uchiha and this being of unimaginable power, and he grew uneasy with only the crackling sound of the Chidori breaking the silence.

_I'm going to go in. One quick approach should do it._

Only the slightest tensing of his stance betrayed his intent to charge in as soon as his opponent tried to pull anything off. As the golden cross that was on the end of this strange woman's staff began to glow, Sasuke was already committed to beat her to the punch...

...until a warm hand clasped onto his shoulder, breaking the fey mood.

"Stand down, Uchiha," a familiar voice said.

_Hokage-sama is here? _Sasuke thought in confusion, but the order to stand down had priority, so he dispelled the Chidori and looked - with confused eyes that had returned to their black hue - at his Hokage and then back at the young woman with black wings.

The oppressive weight of the young woman's aura seemed to lessen the moment Senju Tsunade made her appearance; but what followed afterward baffled everyone.

"...This wasn't in the plan. You promised no one would get severely hurt by this," the young woman said, sparing a look at the redhead before meeting the Hokage's eyes.

"An unexpected development, but as we shinobi like to say, 'no plan survives contact with the enemy'."

"Are we **your** enemy then, Senju Tsunade-san?"

"No... Yagami-san. It just means that we've been trained to expect the unexpected," the Hokage said as she slowly strode towards the fallen redhead, causing Sasuke to gape.

"Hokage-sama... what is this?"

"...You'll find out shortly, Uchiha. For now, cover me."

He bit back a vicious retort meant for the last member of his rival clan, but that wasn't warranted at this time. They couldn't afford to show any hint of dissension, not in the face of this kind of power. "Yes," he answered, going into a regulation combat stance, eyes turning red once more on instinct as he covered his Hokage against incoming enemies.

Hayate gasped as the Fifth Hokage clasped Vita's broken jaw with hands that began to glow a pale green light.

"Unbelievable..." she whispered as she could sense the bones knitting together and the bruises fading, "one of my Knights could learn a lot from you."

"There we go," Tsunade said, "all good as new. And tell your Director that I accept the proposal she and I worked on. Both of you would have to come back here and iron out a few last-minute details, but the deal still stands - you can use Konoha as your second base of operations."

This time it was Sasuke's turn to gasp.

"Hokage-sama!"

He was about to add, "they drop in and start getting rowdy. And now we're working together... just like that?", but a quick warning glance from her, and his objection died in his throat.

"You're clear to go," she said as an ANBU appeared behind her. "ANBU, broadcast Shield Protocol on all engaging teams."

"Thank you," the young woman said, nodding.

_This is Leader 2... we're all clear up in here._

_This is Leader 1. You've got a lot of explaining to do._

_Director Gracia's on her way to the Eden. My apologies, but I was acting on her set of orders as well as yours, Admiral._

_I knew it. Anyway, we've already prepped the infirmary for Vita._

_Just a bed and some mana restoratives will suffice; apparently, our new associates from here have helped out._

"You're welcome."

The young woman named Yagami bent forward in a ceremonial bow to the Hokage before gesturing, and she and her companions the wolf-man and redhead faded from sight, something like a Shunshin without the leaves.

"Excellent performance, Team 7," Tsunade said as the odd hue of the sky returned to normal in the wake of the interlopers' departure, "you managed to hold off several unknown assailants. Uchiha, are you fit to move?"

He let out a relieved breath, the tension draining away from him and his eyes returning to their usual dark brown. "I'm still good, Hokage-sama."

"Glad to hear. ANBU, please follow us with Kakashi and Akamaru. I'll pick up my darling apprentice, you carry Kiba."

"Understood, Hokage-sama."

Before leaving, Sasuke had to glance back to where that young woman named Yagami appeared from, and thought for a moment.

_All that power... I didn't even blink..._

* * *

_This is Director Carim Gracia. All members of Mobile Assault Force 6 are to cease combat and return to the Eden immediately. All containment magic is to be dispelled. Retreat to a defensive position to facilitate a warp back to the Eden._

Most of them were in the midst of battle when the order came, and promptly put aside their confusion to activate their retreat protocols.

On one end of Konoha, right above the Ninja Academy and near the Hokage Mountain, a fierce exchange of swordplay and firepower was ongoing when the retreat order came.

Precia had just swapped with a log to escape Nanoha's attempted Bind, and after faking left then circling right, swung at her opponent hard with Hrist in Dual Sword configuration - Nanoha was quick to anticipate this set of moves and slid out of the way after using a soft guard on the two swords slashing simultaneously, diverting it instead of taking the attack head-on.

_So this is where Fate-chan's fighting style comes from. It's slightly different, but... I've sparred with Fate-chan so many times - it's almost second nature to me; I know how you think._

The order came just as the white-clad mage was about to spring her second set of binding spells. Firing off a set of Accel Shooters to delay pursuit, Takamachi Nanoha backpedaled quickly.

"Leaving so soon?" Precia asked, swatting down the last of her opponent's pink projectiles as she sensed an incoming transport spell.

"I think I already know the score," Nanoha replied, "but with what's going on right now, I'd better go straight to the source and see just what's going on."

"That's sad," Precia answered, "Just when things were getting good, it ends abruptly. A shame."

"Don't think this is over. We're not done."

"If this is what I think it is, don't worry; you'll get another crack at me," Precia said, shrugging. "It's not like I'm going anywhere or doing anything in the near future."

"Fair enough. Oh, and Fate's here, too. You might want to see her before she goes... or maybe not."

That parting shot by Nanoha before she vanished left Precia Testarossa so deep in thought that she did not notice the Dimensional Prison dispelling.

Meanwhile, one Sarutobi Konohamaru plopped down onto the ground, all but spent.

"That was one fast mother hubbard," he told himself. The fight had been all but even until that redheaded bastard used one of Alicia-oneechan's special moves - he had been this close to revealing his elemental manipulation just to break even when the boy named Erio stopped short, went on the defense and sent him flying with a powerful strike before finally disappearing.

"Hayate-sensei! Udon! Moegi!" he called, and shortly his teammates and jonin-sensei ambled over to him looking none the worse for wear.

"Konohamaru, what happened to you? You look like you went ten rounds with the Hokage," Moegi said, causing everyone else to start snickering; "not even remotely what I meant," she added sullenly.

"That Erio fellow was fast. Just as fast as Goku - maybe a bit faster. But I could have handled him easy."

"Yeah, but it looks like he handled you back," Udon replied. "Hayate-sensei managed to get that dragon-thing away from the girl. She's pretty good, and we were pressing our advantage when..."

"...both dragon and girl vanished?" Konohamaru asked, to which he received nods in reply.

The Konohamaru Corps (feat. Gekko Hayate) swept their eyes skyward, seeing that the strange haze had now lifted.

"Sword Leader to Sword 4, come in," Hayate said into his communicator.

"This is Sword 4," Hyuuga Hanabi's voice came in. "Time-space jutsu has been dispelled, three-fourths of all civilians are present and accounted for."

"Good work, team," the sword-wielding jonin said. "Let's write up our reports. The Hokage will need to know this."

"Roger!" the team replied in unison before moving out.

Elsewhere, Hinata had just taken one of their opponent's shoulders out with a Gentle Fist strike - this was the blue-haired girl with the white ribbon and the mechanical gauntlet that reminded her of that chunin from Kumo who got promoted here three years back. She was about to give the other shoulder the similar treatment when another girl with a mechanical gauntlet - this time, on her left hand - suddenly glided up to her and threw a punch which she barely blocked in time.

As she was sent flying by the force of the blow, Hinata could clearly see some sort of energy trail underneath the girl's feet, something she had noticed all battle long - _those mechanical shoes with wheels on them may be the ones making those trails,_ she thought.

She easily reversed her momentum - twisting in the air and landing cleanly - knowing that her fellow Konoha-nin - the very, **VERY** girly Haku - would take up the slack she left. And slash he did, taking a swing at the long-haired girl the interlopers had been calling Ginga.

What had surprised her was that the other one backed up instead of continuing on the offensive - based on their speed, Haku would be overwhelmed quickly if they attacked in tandem during the momentary disadvantage in numbers. By the time she had returned to the fray, the interlopers had gone on the defensive, the blond boy and the wolf-girl throwing a barrier to cover their escape before the entire group of infiltrators disappeared in thin air...

"Everyone peachy back there?" Anko called out after the coast was clear.

Shino and Haku immediately went to Hinata and took up defensive positions while she extended the range of her bloodline limit.

"The time-space jutsu I sensed has been dispelled - all civilians displaced by its effects have returned to their previous spots. No signs of hostiles. Team check?"

"I'm okay over here, Hinata-san," Haku answered. "Took a few blows, but I'm otherwise great."

"Likewise," Shino answered. "That girl with the guns seemed to be able to disrupt most of my kikaichu techniques, though. Her shots from those strange weapons almost always managed to hit and disorient the drones I use to coordinate my swarms' actions."

"Anyway," Anko said, "the worst seems to be over."

She signed to a tree in the distance. "Not only that, we've scouted these invaders as well as they've scouted us. Team 10's got a lot to give Intelligence to digest. Good work, guys - let's get to the debriefing - but keep your eyes open."

"Roger!" Team 8 replied in unison before quickly vacating the training ground where they diverted the invaders to, Team 10 quickly following suit.

_Shika's gonna have a lot to mull over, that's for sure, _the gathered nin thought. _We all have a lot to mull over._

* * *

"Everyone in good shape?" TSAB Admiral Chrono Harlaown asked his operatives as soon as they warped back in, trying hardest to mask his frustration at what the situation degenerated into. _This is supposed to be a quiet pickup, and then all this has to happen._

As the RF6 squad members walked towards the infirmary - with Zafira carrying the still-unconscious Vita on his back - Chrono waited until Yagami Hayate passed him by.

"You two went around my jurisdiction?" he asked.

"Chrono, the Forwards, my knights, and I have no personally vested interests and prior involvement in this," Hayate began, "I even had Aria and Lotte read up on things - things that you, apparently, shared only with Nanoha, Fate and Yuuno. Your mother, too, even though she's officially retired."

"You don't know who we were dealing with back then."

"You mean, the five of you were expecting something and it ended up something completely different," his adjutant replied. "I had to go to the Director myself with this - it's a good thing we cut this cleanly, this quick; otherwise our cover would have been blown, or worse."

"With someone like Precia Testarossa on the loose?"

"Admiral, I admire your devotion to your sister, but sometimes it can cloud your judgment... it happens to the best of us."

"And you and your knights are going to make sure that neither event happens?"

"Why not, Admiral?" Hayate asked, with a shrug. "Still, we will be finishing this... conversation at a later time, though. Debriefings and all that."

With that, she turned on her heel and calmly walked out of the Eden's bridge.

_Smooth, Chrono. Real smooth._

The RF6 commander fished around in his desk for a bottle of aspirin while gathering his thoughts about the matter.

_Yes, this could have ended badly if she didn't go on ahead of us... but what about Nanoha, Fate and that ferret? I'm sure this is a part of their lives they say they've moved on from, but it was never really concluded decisively._

_I hope the Director and Hayate know what they're doing..._

* * *

_Maybe we'll meet again._

_In dreams._

_Yes... in dreams._

Fate opened her eyes, and no, it wasn't a dream.

The tree, the grass, the meadow.

Nothing changed.

Except...

...she was here again.

...with Alicia.

"...onee-chan..." she whispered, looking up, their eyes meeting.

Alicia smiled.

"I never stopped believing we'd meet again, Fate," Alicia whispered. "Still..."

"I see you in my dreams, onee-chan."

"As do I," Alicia answered. "It's so good to know that you have friends dear to your heart who take care of you as a family should."

"...and Mother?"

"Mother..." Alicia replied. "It would be best if you asked her yourself."

Fate's eyes grew frightened.

"It's something you have to do, Fate," Alicia said soothingly, petting her sister's head as she lay on Alicia's lap. "Don't worry, your big sister will walk you through it every step of the way..."

"Alicia... onee-chan... who was that girl? The one with the white eyes?"

"That's a long story," Alicia said as the sky turned back to its usual blue.

"I have to go now," Fate said, slowly standing up. "I'll see if I can come back soon."

"I'll be waiting."

It took Alicia five minutes to realize that Fate had left and that she had been crying. Sadly, she got up and made her way back to Konoha proper to report on what happened.

* * *

"Director, I would like to have an explanation as to why you went down this road. While we're all on the same side here, any future crossing of jurisdiction will have to follow the chain of command."

"Admiral, you do know that when things like this happen, there's a lot more going on behind the scenes than even I can say. And if you're going to throw down any charges, put them on my tab," the TSAB Director answered. "Even Hayate had her doubts about this whole thing."

"That tab of yours is getting bigger," Chrono said. "Also, you're pulling the 'Rabbit Hole' argument this early? It must be some sort of background event to get you to admit that."

"What IS important is that we've averted is not only announcing our presence to all of these people, but we have also gained allies instead of making enemies," Carim Gracia answered, seated comfortably in the Eden's conference room. "Striking a deal with the 'Village Hidden in the Leaves' was the smartest course of action."

"You don't think that Precia Testarossa has turned this 'Village Hidden in the Leaves' against us?" Chrono asked.

"All the stress of the job is taking its toll on your memory, Admiral. Try to remember exactly what the events were that brought Precia Testarossa under the jurisdiction of your mother - former Admiral Harlaown."

"Very well then, I'll play your game," Chrono replied. "According to the record, the whole set of incidents involving the Garden of Time was caused by Alicia Testarossa's accidental death, which led her mother undertake unethical and dangerous to the point of unraveling-the-very-fabric of-space-and-time research on how to revive her. Still, I don't know how that has to do with our intervention here."

The Director shrugged.

"And you're wondering why right now, Fate has her comm off?"

_Crap._

Chrono closed his eyes briefly and did a spot check on the Eden personnel.

_Fate's still back down there... talking to Alicia._

He opened his eyes to see a grinning Director.

"There's a line between caution and paranoia, Admiral," the Director began, "and if you check the contract I had signed with Konoha on your behalf, you'll see that the Testarossas are the last thing you're going to have to worry about."

"What do you mean by that, exactly, Director?"

"If the Testarossas are here," the TSAB officer said, "then it should be logical that the Lost Logia you had pursued all those years ago would be here, too. In fact, that's the primary reason for RF6 being here and not to apprehend two hardworking ninja in the service of Konoha, right? Besides, appointing Konoha as our liaisons might start a few territorial disturbances, but based on our analysis of this world's political system, it's going to be short-term."

"Short-term? We've basically allied ourselves with them!"

"But not in the way that most think. We're not giving them equipment and/or Devices, heck, we're not even contractually obliged to assist them in any way! We just need a local base of operations - when we get to the last piece of Lost Logia, we shake their hands and fly off into the sunset - it's a done deal."

"Things are never as simple as that," the Admiral replied.

"That much is true - and that's precisely why I selected Konoha," the Director said. "They are in the geographical center of the region, a perfect logistic location to start a base of operations from which to begin the search for the Jewel Seeds."

"What are we supposed to give Konoha in exchange anyway?"

"...the intangibles, of course," Carim said, smiling. "You know how crucial the intangibles can be in situations like this."

"...because this is a powder keg and it could all turn into a massive clusterfuck the likes both the people here and the Bureau have never seen before, am I right?"

"Admiral, any operation involving Lost Logia can potentially turn into what you call a 'massive clusterfuck'. Isn't it better for us to be neutral and/or friendly to the natives just in case the worst comes to worst?"

"So you're going to let Precia Testarossa get away with everything, is that it?"

"Who says she hasn't started doing penance for her crimes, Admiral?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Like the Hokage likes to say back there, try to look 'underneath the underneath'," the TSAB Director said. "You could do your own digging at your own time, of course - there is still a lot we don't know, and anything we can do to prevent your 'massive clusterfuck' from taking place at best, or damage control at worst, would be prudent."

"I'll have Mr. Scrya on the job, then."

"That's a good choice. He can back up the Lieze twins."

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a ferret to chase," Chrono said, grinning.

"Good luck with that," Carim replied before the Admiral left the conference room.

Barely five minutes had passed before a sound reverberated from the tablet computer the Director carried with her.

"Open comm," the Director intoned, the tablet transforming into a communication link to the home office - a blonde woman and brunet man both wearing TSAB uniforms occupied the screen.

"So, Sergeant Granscenic," Carim asked, "how has your investigation been?"

"I've caught onto a major breakthrough, Director. If I may ask, ma'am, I'm still wondering why you've held such a high interest in an open-and-shut case like this?"

"You can chalk it up to gut feeling, Sergeant," the Director answered. "These consecutive cases have a common thread. Your major breakthrough?"

"Runessa, show the Director what you found."

Carim Gracia was not one who surprised easily, but she had to let out a frightened gasp as the Enforcer-in-training pulled out an evidence bag from her satchel and showed it to the Director.

"This... this is..."

"I know, Director," Vice Granscenic said. "Should I make my way there, too?"

"Not at the moment," the Director replied, her composure mostly returned. "I'll need investigators over on that end. Call on Cinque, Nove or Otto if you need additional backup. Over and out."

_Of all the things to happen... well, it seems like RF6 is a magnet for trouble, _Carim thought, the last image still lingering vividly in her memory.

Inside the evidence bag was a forehead protector with the symbol for "Grass" scratched through the middle.

* * *

"So the setup is, Nanoha and Fate head to Stone Country; Subaru, Tea and Ginga to Lightning and Erio and Caro go to Sound?"

"Yep," Hayate said. "The Wolkenritter, along with myself, will be a liaison between the Bureau and Konoha. We've got a large array of useful things to gain from this partnership, so I insisted on bringing all of you along - you and Signum for weapons, Zafira for unarmed combat, and Shamal for medical techniques. Of course, we'll also add useful bits of our knowledge to Konoha's data banks."

"Signum already has her hands full with whipping the higher-leveled ninja here into shape, and you said I was useful with weapons," Vita began, "so when do I get to take a part?" Vita asked.

"Based on Erio and Caro's scouting report, the increased amount of enrollees in the Ninja Academy will require someone to overtly mingle with the student body and at the same time covertly aid the faculty," Hayate said, causing Vita's face to fall.

"Oh no, I know where this is going," Vita said indignantly. "Just because I'm built like a child, you're going to have me pose as an Academy Student?"

"We can also gain a lot of knowledge about this place; their history, basic techniques, logistics, plus anything that could give us a lead on where to find the Jewel Seeds."

"But that doesn't mean I have to go to school like some kid and sit through all that! I might serve you in any capacity as your Cloud Knight, but this is just pushing it, Mistress Hayate! I'm not going to the Ninja Academy, **and that's final!**"

Later that day, Umino Iruka introduced a new student to one of the Academy classes, a redhead with a pout that put the recently-graduated Hyuuga Hanabi's to shame.

* * *

"Onoki is either a senile idiot," the purple-haired horned man said, cursing at the bad timing and self-centeredness of the Sandaime Tsuchikage, "or he's a freaking genius. Right now, I can't tell."

Still, he put himself in the old Tsuchikage's metaphorical shoes. Rattling sabers would most likely shake things enough for the other Elemental countries to take notice. Iwagakure was, even after all these years, still smarting from one man putting a stop to the conflict - the Yellow Flash of Konoha and later Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato - and chafing at the bit to put paid onto Konoha's account.

"Why would you say that, Master Dio?" Rekka asked.

"Because I've been around for much longer than that old bastard, and that even worse will come about shortly. The writing is on the wall."

"Akatsuki?"

"Yes... and no. They are merely... the catalyst."

"For what?"

"Don't try to think about it now, wayward student. Just focus on your forms. You have the Stygian aspect nearly perfected. We shall move onto the Drakar aspect soon."

The Iwa-nin's eyes sparkled at that.

"Yes, Master Dio."

The Asmodian chuckled at how predictable his apprentice was. _This is not only a test of your skill, young one. Onoki or whoever his successor will be will try to make an attempt to bind you and your power to them. This is more than just Iwagakure and its ambitions..._

He hefted the reaper's weapon and beckoned to the young Murasaki to head towards the training grounds... they had a lot to cover if the apprentice was to become part of history repeating itself.

Their training had continued in earnest when Rekka began to smell old death in the air. When he had told his master of this, Dio knew that it was time.

The boy could already smell the taint of Chaos in the air... they had no more time left.

It would a mere cosmic hiccup before the fires of Chaos would scorch the land anew - it would make what Onoki had planned for Konoha look like simple vandalism.

"The stench of Conflict and Death is slowly growing stronger, Master," Rekka observed as master and apprentice reached the base of the canyon that was their training ground.

"Pay it no mind for the moment, my apprentice. Mastery of the Stygian aspect is within your reach," the Asmodian replied. "Now, the final test: come at me with everything you've got."

He pointed his scythe at his apprentice. "...And then some."

Weapons clashed in the idyll that was the rocky canyon named after the Nidaime Tsuchikage...

* * *

"If I knew that the paperwork here was just as bad as the paperwork back there, I wouldn't have taken this job on," Yagami Hayate said, sighing. "Anyway, Shamal - what's the last appointment for the day?"

"One Uzumaki Naruto to see you, Mistress," she said.

"Send him in, then," Hayate replied.

As soon as the door opened, in walked a blond, blue-eyed ninja wearing a black-and-orange ensemble.

"Welcome. You must be that boy Signum fought before... Naruto, is it?" Hayate asked, successfully hiding a giggle at the memory of ramen toppings.

"Yes," the young man replied.

"What can I do for you?"

"Could you please close the door? This is a... sensitive matter."

Hayate's thoughts briefly strayed to arms sweeping the table's contents to the ground before... but quickly discarded it as her Knight closed the office door, the boy, meanwhile, forming hand seals.

"Can I ask what this is about?"

"It would be better if I just showed you, ma'am," Naruto replied as the room's privacy seals switched on, an orange Ancient Velkan circle blazed to life under him...

...and a small - tiny, even - silver fox appeared on top of the TSAB officer's table.

"Hello," it said, waving at the Lieutenant Colonel.

"Well, hello to you too," Hayate replied. "You're just Rein's size, give me a moment..."

A white set of Velkan runes appeared under her, and it was Naruto's turn to be flabbergasted as a **very **little girl appeared from the runes the nice lady cast.

"Mistress, is there any problem?" the tiny girl asked, causing Naruto to step back.

"Unbelievable..." he whispered.

"Oh!" the tiny girl exclaimed. "Another Unison Device! What might your name be?"

The equally-flabbergasted fox took a moment to reorient himself before replying. "Once, I was known as the Kyuubi. Then I was 'The Monster Formerly Known as the Kyuubi'. But you can call me Reynardine."

"I'm Rein, short for Reinforce Zwei," she said, walking right up to the fox and running her fingers through its fur. "You're cute! Mistress Hayate, can I keep him?"

"Er, sorry, Rein... Reynardine is that boy's Unison Device."

The tiny girl immediately looked crestfallen at that.

"Anyway, any reason why you summoned your Unison Device here?" Hayate asked.

"Well, the last time I used it, your mere presence caused it to go bonkers," Naruto answered, his hand on his chin as he remembered.

He did catch the quick glance Hayate gave her own Unison before turning to him.

"It's a usual problem with Unison Devices... tell me, was this the first time you used Unison?"

Naruto nodded.

"But you have run simulations, have you?"

"Everything went perfectly back then," Naruto replied.

"If that's the case, then your Unison Device's configuration is not applicable to your current situation. Signum told me about the modified Velkan array you use - you're holding back a lot of power, aren't you?"

Naruto nodded, again.

"Well, that explains a lot, then. Your Unison Device should be configured as a control-type - Rein's been sending me your simulation logs. Apparently, you've stuck with default configs - Unison Devices are usually given the initial set that's more applicable to giving more power to the user rather than helping the user control something he or she already has. There's another that improves elemental control, but with those wind element techniques I've seen you throw around - what do you call them? Right, jutsu - you don't actually need that kind of Unison. So, when I'm done with the day's business, I'll have Rein give Reynardine a copy of her control configuration files. It should help you out."

Both Naruto and the fox smiled at that. "Thanks!"

"Don't mention it," Hayate said. "Will that be all?"

"Yes, ma'am, I was wondering... where's Signum?" Naruto asked. "I'd like to have a spar with her."

"Ah, young boys are so predictable," Hayate said with a chuckle, forcing his face to turn red instantly. "I know what you did to her back then..."

Naruto stood stock-still immediately while his Unison snickered at his predicament.

"I'm just teasing, silly," Hayate said. "Don't worry, I'll mention it to your Hokage. Anything else?"

He shook his head a bit too quickly at that. "None. None at all... all. I'll... see myself off."

"Until next time, then," the TSAB liaison said just before he left the office - _was that a sultry tone of voice she used? _he asked himself.

As soon as he left the Hokage Tower, with his Unison Device back in his storage space, that was when he heard the chuckling.

_So that's how you manage to resist kunoichi seduction specialists, _Lass began in between laughs.

_Yep. Apparently, you're such a nice guy that the techniques either don't work, or you appear to dump them into friend territory faster than they can whip their fishnet off!_

_Oh, shut up, you guys, _Naruto replied. _I really do want to have another spar with that Signum lady._

_As we never stop reminding you, Naruto - keep telling yourself that, _his Devices said in unison before dissolving into laughter.

Grumbling, Naruto tuned his Devices out before heading off to a Training Ground to vent a little.

* * *

"To change into Wolf Form is to tap into the primal nature of your spirit..."

"...to change into Nephilim Form is to go beyond your primal nature: to tap into the power of your bloodline and become the wrath of Nature herself..."

"...but the last transformation... even I have not managed to reach that goal."

"Why not, Vanessa-sensei?"

"I never had the time to aim for that - I am bound to guard this place. Also... the spirit of your Device has attained the final transformation. You would do well to heed his counsel."

"Yes, sensei."

"Now, let us cross weapons one final time, to see just how much you have grown since stepping into this sanctum. Then, and only then, can I allow you to see my master - the God of Origins, Zen."

Hikaru barely registered a flash of movement before the Guardsman was on him, swinging her crescent blade downward. She brought Fafnir up to block, using the momentum of her guard to swing the axe forward continuously.

_**"Twin Blade"**_, her Device intoned as the shockwave of her weapon sent Vanessa hurtling back.

"Good," the Guardsman replied, "it's good to see you finally realize just how precarious this situation is. However..."

A reversed swing of her crescent after dashing in sent the former Grass kunoichi flying into a wall.

"...you'll need more than that to withstand the God of Origins."

Slowly, Hikaru got up and braced herself for the next exchange of attacks.

* * *

Fourteen days, but so far, three Jewel Seeds had been collected. Nanoha and Fate had snagged one, narrowly missing an encounter with who they later learned was the infamous Iwagakure no Ankoku Daishogun and his apprentice the Devilhand.

Konoha, meanwhile, had put together a team of ninja to try and scout ahead for any locations in the Land of Fire; running into a forest of mutated animals had them call on the Wolkenritter, with Signum's newest student in the sword arts Uzumaki Naruto the one sealing the Lost Logia.

The last one took the help of one Yugito Nii as a berserk Cloud-nin was the one directly influenced by the Jewel Seed's power; when the man was finally stopped, the Cloud jonin gave the Lost Logia to Subaru's team, grateful for their help in preventing another mishap from happening to their still-rebuilding Hidden Village.

"We've made faster progress in retrieving Lost Logia before," Hayate had said during their weekly meeting to discuss their mission so far, "so I wonder, why have we seemed to hit a brick wall? First week we recover three of them. Now, nothing seems to show. It's as if the Lost Logia have hidden themselves."

"...It could also mean that someone or something is hiding them," Nanoha replied. "Speaking of which, how has your data gathering worked out?"

"Going very well, actually. Aria and Lotte have done a great job cross-referencing a lot of the material there with the ones we've found in Konoha."

"I heard Yuuno's started his own research project over there. Admiral Harlaown's riding him like a dime-store pony, if you ask me."

Hayate giggled, and it was back to being friends instead of colleagues. "I can imagine. How's Fate holding up, by the way?"

Nanoha shrugged. "She's stepping around her issue with Precia. Alicia's trying to get them to talk, but hasn't made any headway so far."

"I have an idea," Hayate said, grinning evilly.

"Do tell," Nanoha asked, imagining a light bulb go off on top of the Lieutenant Colonel's head.

"Bring Vivio here."

As she imagined how the encounter would go, Nanoha soon sported an evil grin that matched Hayate's perfectly.

"50 bucks says she turns to a puddle before going over to her granddaughter."

"Raise you 50 more if she actually squee's before doing that."

"Sucker bet, Nanoha."

The two women shared a laugh before going back to work.

* * *

Meanwhile, Chrono had sent Yuuno back to the Infinity Library to assist the Lieze twins in their own reading. Based on whatever the Director had found on her own time, he had the sinking feeling that there was something bigger going on, bigger than the Jewel Seeds.

Normally, she'd try to negotiate her way from the worst of the penalties for any diplomatic or administrative gaffes - this was straight off the Scaglietti case, but taking it on the chin?

Admiral Harlaown put aside the business of what to do with this administrative slip and carefully monitored Yuuno's work. The librarian was currently digging up everything he could on the infamous "Grand Chase" and the history of the Elemental Countries with the help of Gil Graham - and now Hayate's - two familiars.

He carefully weighed the facts of what happened and what didn't happen - they had gone in without sufficient intelligence and were battled to a standstill by a few Device users and ninja. If they ended up unprepared for anything else that came after that, Chrono would eat his Admiral pauldrons - believe that!

He also perused Yuuno's abstracts with a severe eye - if the clue he was seeking was somewhere in the Infinity Library, he'd find it.

Director Gracia's sudden interest in the whole affair set off a lot of red flags in his mind - while nothing had actually happened yet, it would only be a matter of time before Murphy's Law would rear its ugly head and strike where they least expected it - by then, he hoped RF6 would be ready.

* * *

A few days later, during the team's day off, Hayate decided to spend it by heading towards the biggest onsen in Konoha with her Wolkenritter in tow. It need not be said that her eyes erupted into sparkles the moment she saw that a significant percentage of Konoha's who's-who were also easing the week's stresses away.

Shamal sighed as she saw a small trail of drool go down their Mistress' chin as she stalked her way over to the Konoha contingent - the Hokage, her assistant, two of the higher-ranked ninja and their kunoichi underlings, the Sunagakure ambassador, a kunoichi working at the cryptography department, and a Hyuuga who Naruto mentioned was from the Branch House.

"Eep!" cried the librarian girl - Shiho something-or-other was her name, according to Vita - she'd been to the codebreaker once or twice to get a handle on how the basic cyphers in Konoha worked.

"...Mistress, do you really have to do that?" Signum stage-whispered, pretending not to notice that Hayate already had her hands full.

"Shiho, right?" Hayate asked. "You should go to a medic-nin. I felt a lump here."

The codebreaker stiffened before nodding solemnly, making a mental note to have it checked out after this.

After giving her a smile, Hayate immediately peeled herself off the green-haired girl and sauntered over to the red-eyed one, giving her only a cheerful grin as warning before slipping behind and grabbing her with speed that reminded the older ones in the bath of the Fourth Hokage's famous Hiraishin no Jutsu.

"Kinda tender," Hayate noted to herself, thoughtful as she saw the woman's face redden. "Sensitive, too. You're either ovulating or pregnant."

After a sputtered series of denials from the woman and laughs all around, Hayate moved onto that Hyuuga branch member, who despite being subject to all sorts of tactile examination, retained the trademark Hyuuga Clan stoicism.

All this while her knights and the Hokage's assistant were looking on, flabbergasted.

"...is she always like that?" Shizune asked Signum, who nodded.

"Even when she was young," the General of Blazing Flame replied.

"How young was she?"

"Nine years old."

Shizune's jaw almost clattered to the floor. "So she's been..."

"Yes... yes, she has," the pink-haired bodyguard to their TSAB contact said, sighing at the pleasant feeling and the strange treatment she and her fellow Knights were subjected to by their mistress. "It still is uncomfortable, but we've managed to get used to it."

"So she does it to the others? Like Nanoha-san? And Fate-san?"

Shamal nodded. "Well, if you ask her, she's doing it as a sign of affection. Maybe because before we came along, she was basically living by herself."

_That's sad, _Shizune thought. _And maybe that can explain her fixation, if my ninja psychology is correct. Something to symbolize parenthood... _"I can imagine. Never saw Shishou's face like that before..." Shizune said, gaping as Hayate did what no one else could pull off and snuck behind Tsunade, beginning her hands-on appraisal, muttering all the while, "wait... is she doing a running critique? On Shishou's breasts?"

"Our Mistress always does that... doesn't it bother you, Miss Hokage's Secretary?" Vita asked as she joined the others, ditching her towel before lowering herself gingerly in the steaming hot water of the onsen.

"...It's just strange, that's all... I'm also her senior apprentice; and my name is Shizune."

"If you don't mind me asking, Shizune-san, who's your junior?" Shamal asked.

"Haruno Sakura. Pink hair, red dress..."

"...throws punches that leave craters in their wake?" the redhead asked before letting out a satisfied sigh, submerged up to the shoulders in the steaming water. "Yeah, I know her - got in a tangle with her and her team. Even though I had one of my best shields up and it was a glancing hit, still hurt like no one's business."

"I can imagine, as I sparred with her and her team day before yesterday," Signum answered. "Anyway, how was the Academy?"

Vita bristled, and her fellow Wolkenritter had to grin. It took a moment of comfortable silence for them to just settle in and let the warmth of the bath help release the stress they had been building up over the past week.

"Oh my," Shizune could only say as the TSAB liaison went from her hands-on appraisal of the Hokage towards a certain Mitarashi Anko.

"Better get used to it," Vita replied as the purple-haired jonin looked a lot more amused than annoyed at the TSAB liaison's quirky behavior.

* * *

"Amazing..." Deidara said. "To think such a small artifact could hold that much power."

"Indeed," Sasori answered. "And it's a lot easier to procure than a living, breathing, fighting jinchuriki or rampaging bijuu."

Channeling just a little chakra through that blue gem allowed Sasori the power and control over a thousand combat puppets just as the two Akatsuki were training - a small enough test to know that what they had was the real thing.

And now Sasori passed the acquired artifact to the Akatsuki Leader's counselor - a young woman who elicited a lot of speculation from everyone - how did a waif like this manage to get into the Akatsuki's inner sanctum?

"Yes, this is one of the Jewel Seeds. Good work, Sasori; Deidara... Leader-sama sends you his regards."

"Say, when do we get to meet our Leader-sama?" Deidara asked. "Someone who can lead this joint has got to be that damn awesome, eh?"

"In time," the woman replied. "...in time. You need to accumulate more awesome missions in our service before you can meet the Leader, though."

"Fair enough," Sasori answered, wincing slightly at the spokeswoman's adopting Deidara's favorite word. "Where will we strike next, if I may be so bold as to ask?"

"You're heading to the New World," the Akatsuki spokeswoman said. "A Jewel Seed is causing various spacetime fluctuations in Swamp Country. Neutralize the threat and retreive the Jewel Seed."

"It will be done," the former Sand-nin said, bowing courteously before they left the office, leaving the woman to her thoughts.

She spent the next few minutes perfectly still, one hand to her forehead as she gathered her thoughts. And then, she pressed a button on her console, bringing up the face of another one of her Akatsuki operatives.

"Kakuzu," the spokeswoman began.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Bring **that... man** with you to Grass Country. Our sensors have detected Jewel Seed activity within the outskirts of Kusagakure."

"Understood."

As soon as the comm came offline, she sighed. "Duel Pon Zec Avenger... I wonder... why did you decide to cast your lot in with us...?"

Chapter 7 - **END**

* * *

**author's notes:**

And here we have the really big reason why I bumped this rating to M - Yagami Hayate running amuck in Konoha, teasing ninja, groping the kunoichi, groping the Hokage... and **getting away with it. **There will be another, bigger reason for the M rating, and it will come soon.

Also, the big Rain invasion that prompted the Konoha pursuit team and the Sound Five to start working together in Arcane Heart? Yes, that was a coup. It took the efforts of the Sannin, three students of one of the aforementioned Sannin (hint: I said **three**, not** two**), the misdirection that was the Sound/Sand "invasion", a lot of sleight-of-hand, and help from unlikely places to pull it off.

Some of you may ask if I'm following series canon or The Battle of Aces canon. My answer is - just wait and see.

I skimmed over a Nanoha/Fate vs. Dio/Rekka skirmish here, so I'll add that in the next chapter as a flashback.

Finally, certain events in the Nanoha universe will be pushed up on the schedule to turn what will be a 'massive clusterfuck' into a 'colossal clusterfuck' - but wait, there will be more!

By the way, here's the "swordsman" joke Naruto told his teammates (that amused Hinata and annoyed Shino - because somehow, three innocent flies were involved):

_A high-level diplomat made a little contest to see which swordsman he would choose in an important mission - three swordsmen from different ninja villages were the finalists._

_The Kumo swordsman showed off by bisecting a fly._

_The Iwa swordsman showed off further by quadrisecting another fly._

_The Konoha swordsman slashed at the third fly, but nothing appeared to happen._

_The diplomat was about to disqualify the Konoha swordsman, but the two others surrendered at the Leaf swordsman's "skill". When asked why by the diplomat, they answered, "killing is easy, circumcision is hard."_

_**Character Bio**_

**Name: **Murasaki Rekka

**Rank: **Jonin

**Age: **23

**Affiliation: **Iwagakure

**Elemental Affinities: **None

**Team Role: **Weapons. Summoning ancient and powerful weapons is his specialty, as well as some time-space techniques. The wide variety of weapons at his beck and call allow him to take on a more general role within a team.

The apprentice of the Asmodian Dio, Murasaki Rekka proved his worth during the clan purges that served to further consolidate the Third Tsuchikage's power. Iwagakure was wracked with infighting in the wake of the Third Ninja World War, and it is only recently that (with Dio and Rekka's help) that unity through force was achieved within Iwa...

He was actually transformed into an Asmodian by Dio and trained to become his apprentice and successor because of an experimental jutsu gone awry.

**Suggested VAs:**

Otsuka Hikaru - Kawasumi Ayako  
Kururugi Seiryuu - Sakurai Takahiro (as if it could be anyone else)  
Musashi Ranmaru - Hoshi Soichiro (to further ram the sameface point home)  
Murasaki Rekka - Sugita Tomokazu  
Mari Ming Onette - Noto Mamiko  
Dio - Koyasu Takehito  
Vanessa - Asakawa Yuu


End file.
